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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29133756">Their Girl</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argyle_S/pseuds/Argyle_S'>Argyle_S</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Bond Of Their Own [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bumblebee (2018), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Prime</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blow Jobs, Come Swallowing, Don’t copy to another site, Dry Humping, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Femmes with Spikes (Transformers), First Time Blow Jobs, Hand Jobs, Human/Transformer Relationships (Transformers), Hurt/Comfort, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Robot/Human Relationships, Sharing a Bed, Spark Sexual Interfacing (Transformers), Sticky Sexual Interfacing, Threesome, Threesome - F/F/M, Transformers Spark Bonds, Tribadism, Vaginal Sex, Valve Play (Transformers), Voyeurism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 06:56:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>23,643</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29133756</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argyle_S/pseuds/Argyle_S</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Bumblebee nearly dies in a fight, Charlie and Windblade turn to each other for comfort while he recovers, but their time together brings up long buried feelings and leads to big changes for all three of them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bumblebee/Charlie Watson, Bumblebee/Charlie Watson/Windblade, Bumblebee/Windblade (Transformers), Windblade/Charlie Watson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>A Bond Of Their Own [4]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104146</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Their Girl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is set about two years after “A Human of His Own”, eighteen months after “Her Bumblebee” and seventeen months after “His past.”</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Hey,” Windblade said as she stepped into the maintenance bay where Charlie was working.  Charlie looked up from the truck she was working on and smiled, and Windblade couldn’t help but smile in return.  Charlie’s good moods were always infectious, and Windblade wasn’t immune to the effect.  It was part of the reason she tended to seek Charlie out when she wasn’t on duty.  The other part being that unless Bumblebee was on a mission, or training his new team, he was wherever Charlie was.</p>
<p>“Hey, Windblade,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“You mind some company?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>“Of course not,” Charlie said.  “But aren’t you on duty?”</p>
<p>“Not today,” Windblade said as she walked over to the corner of the bay Charlie kept clear for Bee.  “Jetfire’s team has the Ready One spot today, the Aerialbots are Ready Two, and Springer’s team is Ready Three.  Short of an all hands, Team Windblade has the day off.”</p>
<p>“Nice,” Charlie said.  “I hope you’re okay with just me though.  Optimus sent Bee’s team to New Mexico to check on an energon reading.”</p>
<p>“That’s perfect.  I can steel you away, and he won’t be able to do a thing about it.”</p>
<p>“I wish,” Charlie said.  “That would definitely be a better way to spend the day than what I’ve got planned.” </p>
<p>Windblade folded in her wings and sat down in the corner where she was out of the way but had a good view of Charlie.  “What are you working on?”</p>
<p>“New alt mode for Bulkhead,” Charlie said.  “We’re trying to get away from military vehicles for as many of the ground bots as possible.”</p>
<p>“Good luck getting Warpath to give up that tank mode.”</p>
<p>“I said as many as possible,” Charlie replied as she leaned back under the hood of the truck.  “I’m good, but I’m not a miracle worker.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know about that,” Windblade said.  “You worked at least one.”  She saw the color rise in Charlie’s checks.  It wasn’t quite as obvious as the energon glow of a Cybertronian’s blush, but the tell-tale red was there.  Charlie had been living on the base for two years, and Windblade was sure she still hadn’t gotten used to the jealousy she got from the other bots.  Windblade blamed Bumblebee for that.  That mech had never realized just how easily he could have had his pick of bots.  But then, that was part of the appeal.  Aside from his speed and his skill at cube, Bee didn’t have any ego about anything.  At least, not until Charlie showed up.  All Charlie had to do was smile at him, and he’d spend the day strutting around the base like he’d just been declared the next Prime.  The worst part was, his newfound confidence and pride were really attractive, and Windblade couldn’t do a damn thing about it no matter how wet it made her valve.</p>
<p>“Where’s your shadow?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“Not sure,” Windblade said.  “But Ironhide had the day off, so they’re probably putting dents in his stasis shelf.”</p>
<p>Charlie laughed.  “I swear, Chromia’s like a cat in heat every time she sees Ironhide.”</p>
<p>“I can’t say I blame her.  I could use with a good spiking myself.”</p>
<p>The color in Charlie’s checks darkened.  “I’m sure you could have your pick of bots,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“The City Speaker could have her choice of bots,” Windblade said, the old bitterness creeping into her voice.  “I don’t think most of the bots on base know Windblade exists.”</p>
<p>“Then their idiots,” Charlie said.  “Hell, if I wasn’t already married, I’d snap you up for myself.  That is, if you were interested in a squishy human.”</p>
<p>Windblade swallowed and did her best not to think about just how interested she was in one squishy human in particular.  It was hard, sometimes, being a gentlebot in her head because she loved Bumblebee, and she missed the way she felt when he touched her, and because somewhere along the way, she’d somehow fallen hopelessly in love with the squishy human who had taken Bumblebee away from her and she really wanted to find out how it would feel if Charlie touched her.  She steadied herself and used the mental discipline she’d been trained in since her City Speaker abilities first manifested to push those thoughts down into a memory file to be locked away, because she would never, ever do anything to hurt either of her friends, and coming between them that way would devastate them both.</p>
<p>“So, what exactly are you doing to this poor truck?” Windblade asked, steering the conversation back onto safer ground.  Charlie lit up at the question, and Windblade sat back and listened to an explanation she understood maybe every third word of.  It didn’t matter though.  Charlie was happy, and that was more than enough to make Windblade happy.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Charlie finished tightening the last bolt on the engine and stepped back, giving her work a once over.</p>
<p>“Are you done?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>Charlie smiled as she turned to the red and black bot sitting in the corner of the repair bay, looking bored out of her mind.  “I think so.  It looks like Frankenstein took up car repair, but if it lets Bulkhead keep up with a vehicon, I’ll call it good.”</p>
<p>“Here’s hoping,” Windblade said.  “I don’t think I can listen to him whining about the vehicons outrunning him again without my sword getting involved.”</p>
<p>“Be nice,” Charlie said.  “It’s not his fault.”  Which was true enough.  Up until now, the only vehicles they had large enough for Bulkhead to wear were Humvees, which topped out at around 70 miles per hour.  Charlie had spent the better part of the last month tearing down and rebuilding a Lamborghini LM002, installing a more powerful engine with electronic fuel injection, a turbo charger, and a number of other performance enhancers.  The stock LM002 was rated with a top speed of 130 miles per hour, and Charlie was hoping the modifications she’d made were going to boost the LM002’s top speed a good bit, because the Crown Vic Police Interceptors the Vehicons used as an alt mode topped out around 150.</p>
<p>Over the last two years, she and Courtney had switched almost every Autobot’s alt mode out for something that could keep up and sent all the new protoforms that had come online right to the supercars, muscle cars and pony cars, but they’d run into issues with some of the bigger bots like Optimus, Ultra Magnus, Bulkhead, which meant the Decepticon ground troops could run circles around the Autobot’s heavy hitters.  She and Courtney had been working their way down the list, getting the big bots back in the speed game.  Courtney had been focusing on Optimus, Ultra Magnus and the others that liked to wear Semis because she was the more experienced Diesel mechanic, while Charlie had been focusing on the bots that leaned towards off road vehicles.  Fortunately, Bulkhead was the last of the big bots still lagging, so if the Frankenstein’s monster she and Courtney had whipped up could keep up, they could go back to something a bit less urgent.</p>
<p>She also kind of hoped it would let them bring a few bigger protoforms online.  Most of the Autobots were built on courier or scout frames, with only a few like Optimus, Ultra Magnus and Bulkhead built on heavier industrial frames.  The Vehicons might be built on scout frames, but most of the other Decepticons were built on aircraft or military frames, which meant they had, on average, a forty percent mass advantage, bot for bot, on the Autobots.  Add in the fact that the vast majority of Decepticons were flyers, and Charlie didn’t sleep well at night.  Especially when Bumblebee was out on a mission.</p>
<p>“He’ll be fine, you know,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“Am I that obvious?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“Only because I worry about him too.  But come on.  He’s got Croshairs, Smokescreen, Skids and that new bot.  Oh, what’s her name?”</p>
<p>“Strongarm,” Charlie said, not able to keep the annoyed tone out of her voice, because she knew Windblade knew Strongarm’s name.</p>
<p>“Oh, come on.  You can’t blame the girl for having a little crush.”</p>
<p>“She can have all the crushes she wants, as long as they’re not on my husband.”</p>
<p>“You never minded me having a crush on your husband.”</p>
<p>“That’s because I trust you,” Charlie said, which was true enough, but not the main reason she didn’t mind.  When she first realized that Bee was in love with Windblade, she’d been scared about what it might mean for them, but after she and Bee had talked about it, she’d settled into a bit of an odd place with it.  On the one hand, she wished the fact that Bee’s feelings were unrequited didn’t cause him so much pain.  On the other hand, she’d fallen a little in love with Windblade herself.  She just wasn’t sure she was ready to tell Windblade one of her favorite fantasies was laying next to Bee and watching while Windblade road his spike.  She honestly wasn’t sure whether she liked that one, or the one where she was riding Windblade’s spike more.</p>
<p>“Come on.  You know your boy only has eyes for you,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“And occasionally you,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Bee wouldn’t do that to you, Charlie,” Windblade said.  “And even if he would, I wouldn’t.”</p>
<p>“I know,” she said.  “I trust you.  Strongarm not so much.”</p>
<p>“Trust Bee,” Courtney said.  “I’ve never seen anybody so besotted as that bot is when he looks at you.”</p>
<p>“I do trust him” Charlie said.  “It’s just hard, you know.  Watching someone else look at the person you love like that.”</p>
<p>“I get it,” Windblade said.  “But your mech is a war hero, and Strongarm is young.”</p>
<p>“Strongarm is a god damned infant,” Charlie said.  “I still can’t believe Optimus is putting bots that are less than a year old in the field.”</p>
<p>“We don’t have a lot of choice,” Windblade said.  “The Decepticons outnumber us, and unless we want to start making Vehicons of our own…”</p>
<p>Charlie shuddered slightly at the thought.  She knew that Vehicons couldn’t help what they were, Made To Order troops were a fact of life in the war they were fighting, but seeing an army of basically faceless clones was terrifying.  The Autobots, at least, treated their MTO’s like regular bots.</p>
<p>“I know,” Charlie said.  “I just hate the things this war makes us do.”</p>
<p>“You and me both,” Windblade said.  “If you want, I can say something to Arcee about your Strongarm problem.  You know she’s pretty good about smacking some sense into the newbies.”</p>
<p>“Maybe you should,” Charlie said.  “I don’t know if Strongarm doesn’t know Bee and I are Conjunx, of if she just doesn’t care, but I don’t think she’ll will listen to me if I tell her to back off, and Bee... is Bee”</p>
<p>“And only way to get that bot to realize you’re interested in him is to drag him back to your quarters and pop your modesty panels.”</p>
<p>Charlie laughed and shook her head.  “I definitely didn’t have that problem.”</p>
<p>“Lucky femme,” Windblade said.  “I’ll talk to Arcee as soon as she...”</p>
<p>Charlie didn’t hear the rest of what Windblade was saying, because it was cut off by a surge of panic flowing through her bond with Bumbebee.  She stumbled, the torque wrench slipping from her grasp as she put a hand against the truck she’d been working on.  She focused on the bond, on opening it a little.  Not enough to distract Bee, but enough find out what was going on.</p>
<p>Seekers.  She saw seekers.  Not the light ones, or even the regular ones like Starscream and his trine.  These were big ones.  Dreadwing, Skyquake and Blackout.</p>
<p>She felt something touch her, pulling her back into her own body, and she looked up to see Windblade leaning over her, giving her a worried expression.</p>
<p>“What is it?”</p>
<p>“Bee’s team is under attack.  Dreadwing’s trine.”</p>
<p>“Come on,” Windblade said as she scooped Charlie up and headed towards the door.</p>
<hr/>
<p>By the time they reached the ground bridge room, Optimus, Jetfire, Brainstorm and Powerglide, and Windblade’s trinemates Maxima and Skydancer, were all in the in the ground bridge room.  Hot Rod and his team were there too, but with Blurr as his second, plus Road Rage, and a pair of motorcycles named Flareup and Afterbreak, they were a recon team built for speed, not for combat.  Unlike Bee’s team, which was built with combat in mind.</p>
<p>Charlie tried not to resent that.  She knew Bee had offlined more Cons than any other Autobot short of a few members of the Wreckers, but just like it was hard watching Strongarm pine for Bee, it was hard watching Optimus push Bee into a more dangerous role.  It hurt a little that she couldn’t say anything, but she knew Bee was a soldier when she decided to spark bond with him.</p>
<p>Windblade, bless her, carried Charlie right over to where Optimus was, and set her on one of the second-tier catwalks so she was head level with him.</p>
<p>“What’s going on?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Bumblebee’s team has come under attack from a trine of heavy seekers,” Optimus said.  “They’re currently pinned down in a canyon.”</p>
<p>“Why haven’t you sent the ready team?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“I was preparing to send Ready One, but Bumblebee ordered a hold on the ready teams.  He believes this may be an attempt by the Decepticons to lure our flyers into a trap in an attempt to whittle down their numbers.”</p>
<p>“Send us anyway,” Windblade said.  “We can handle it.”</p>
<p>“I cannot,” Optimus said.  “Believe me, both of you, I share your concern for the wellbeing of Bumblebee and his team.  However, protocol dictates that the commanding officer of any field team has final say on whether backup should be deployed.  If I override Bumblebee’s decision, it will undermine his authority, and negatively affect his ability to command in the future.  I will not do that to him.”</p>
<p>Charlie glared at Optimus as he turned back to the monitor in front of him.  She wanted to yell and scream, to demand that he send the ready teams.  She could still feel Bee’s fear pouring through the link, and she wanted him to be safe.  Optimus seemed to sense what Charlie was going through, because he switched the feed from Bumblebee’s squad over to the PA speakers in the Ground Bridge room.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Windblade wanted to scream.  She wanted to demand Optimus open the ground bridge and send her through, alone if necessary, so she could help Bee.  It didn’t matter that he was right.  It didn’t matter that it was Bee’s call.  It didn’t even matter if Bee was right and it was a trap.  Bee was in danger.  Her first, and for countless vorns her only true friend.  The only bot who had ever seen her as just Windblade and not ‘The Cityspeaker’.  Her first love.  Her first and to date only lover.  The bot that she had hoped one day would be her Conjunx was in danger, and it was all she could do not to reach past Optimus and pull the activation lever for the ground bridge.  To go and save one of the two lives that meant more to her than her own.</p>
<p>She closed her eyes, reciting one of the calming mantras from her City Speaker training, but it did no good.  It never did when Bee was in danger.</p>
<p>Optimus opened the com line so everyone in the ground bridge room could hear what was going on, but as Windblade listened, moments from her and Bee’s past ran through her mind.  Her first night on Cybertron when Bee tried to sneak into a Cube match with the group of Seekers that had invited Windblade along.  Ending up at Maccadam’s by the end of the night, laughing at Starscream and his seekers.  Laughter more genuine than anything she’d felt since her City Speaker powers first manifested.  The night, not long after the war started, where she’d pulled him into her quarters and welcomed him into her body for the first time, and when she’d first slid inside him later that same night.  The feel of his spark and hers connecting as the spark rings on their spikes and valves touched.</p>
<p>“Negative Crosshairs,” Bee said.  “We stay in the canon where there’s cover.  If we try to make a break for it, they’ll pick us off on the road.” </p>
<p>“Their coming around for another pass,” Skids called out.</p>
<p>“Smokescreen, you’re in charge,” Bee said.  “If I don’t make it back, use smoke storm protocol to cover your retreat and get back to base.”</p>
<p>“Yes sir,” Smokescreen said.</p>
<p>“Where are you going?” Strongarm asked, and Windblade could hear the fear in her voice.</p>
<p>“To even the odds,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“I’ll go with you,” Strongarm said.</p>
<p>“Negative,” Bee said.  “Skyquake and Blackout both like to finish their targets hand to hand.  You’re our strongest bot.  If the Seekers land, you’re the only one that can handle them one on one.  Stay here and protect the others.”</p>
<p>“Yes, sir,” Strongarm said.</p>
<p>The coms where silent for a minute, but then she heard Skids say, “That bot is fragging crazy.”</p>
<p>“Is he…  I don’t believe it,” Smokescreen said.  “He’s just ripping out his wires.”</p>
<p>“That is just wrong,” Crosshairs said.</p>
<p>“I think I’m gonna be sick,” Strongarm said.</p>
<p>“Is he going to get off in time?” Skids asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah…  He… Great Primus’s skid plate!” Crosshairs said.</p>
<p>Windblade waited and prayed to Primus that Bee was okay.  She wanted to call out, to ask what was happening, but she knew better than to jostle the elbows of a field team in the middle of a fight.  Instead, she looked at Charlie, and what she saw was enough to calm her down.  Charlie looked worried, but that was it, which meant she could still feel Bee, and he was okay.</p>
<p>“Come on,” Smokescreen said.  “Come on, boss bot.  Where are you?”</p>
<p>“There!” Strongarm yelled.</p>
<p>“Team, get ready to move,” Bee said.  “Bumblebee to ground bridge control.  I’m transmitting target coordinates now.  We’re going to need a bridge on my signal.  We will be coming in hot.”</p>
<p>Windblade’s hand dropped down to her sword just in case any hostiles made it through the ground bridge.</p>
<p>“Understood, Bumblebee,” one of the human techs said.  “Bridge available on your signal.”</p>
<p>“Dreadwing’s coming around for another pass,” Smokescreen said.</p>
<p>“I’ve got him!” Strongarm said.</p>
<p>“Strongarm, no!” Smokescreen and Bee both yelled, and a moment later, Windblade heard something which felt like it snuffed her spark.  Charlie let out a cry of pain and fell to her knees on the catwalk.</p>
<p>“Bee!” Crosshairs screamed, his voice filled with terror.</p>
<p>“Smokescreen to ground bridge control.  Activate the bridge!  We’re coming in hot.  Have medical standing by.”</p>
<p>The blue green glow of the ground bridge filled the room.  A moment later, Crosshairs and Skids stumbled through carrying Bee, who was missing his right arm, right shoulder, and most of the right side of his chest.  Strongarm stumbled through a moment later, covered in energon, and Windblade just knew it belonged to Bee.  Smokescreen came through last, leaking energon from a wound to his side, and carrying Bee’s missing arm, which was still attached to a chunk of shoulder.</p>
<p>“Medic!” Smokescreen screamed.  “We need a medic!”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Charlie watched the scene playing out below her on the floor of the ground bridge room, but so much of it seemed unreal.  All she felt was the agony in her chest, and the terror that she was going to lose Bee.  Bee must have felt her distress, because he turned his head and looked at her, and she could feel the ever-present love pouring through their bond, along with a wave of relief, but the relief was accompanied by guilt and regret, and over the screaming and the yelling, the shouted orders, and the frantic scrambling to get out of the way so Ratchet and Lifeline could get to Bee, Charlie heard two words.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Bee said.  As soon as the words were spoken, his optics went dark.  A moment later, everything else followed.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Windblade watched the chaos as Ratchet and Lifeline worked on Bee while Red Alert tried to staunch the flow of energon out of Smokescreen’s wound, her spark in her throat the whole time as Bee’s energon spilled out on the floor faster than Ratchet and Lifeline could clamp off the leaks.  She saw Bee’s optics lock on something behind her, and she knew he was looking at Charlie, and when his optics went dark a moment later, Windblade swallowed her own grief and fear and turned around to check on her.  She saw the pain in Charlie’s eyes, and she saw the light leave it, saw Charlie start to fall, and thanked Primus that all she had to do was reach out and catch her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Light.  Blinding light.  Charlie flinched away from it and closed her eyes.</p>
<p>“There we are,” a deep baritone voice said.</p>
<p>She opened her eyes slowly and found herself staring at Dr. Greer.</p>
<p>“What happened?”</p>
<p>“You passed out and fell off the catwalk,” Greer said.  “Fortunately, Windblade caught you before you hit the ground, so you’re fine, physically.”</p>
<p>“Where’s Bee?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“He’s just across the hall,” someone said.  Charlie turned towards the voice and saw Windblade standing there.  She shook herself, not sure how she’d missed a giant robot in the room, but as she looked around and noticed a couple of other people she’d missed as well.  A nurse, and Agent Burns.  She turned back to Windblade.</p>
<p>“Is he okay?” she asked.</p>
<p>“How much to you remember?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>Charlie looked at Windblade for a moment, thinking.  She’d been in one of the bays, working on souping on a truck for Bulkhead’s new alt mode, and something happened.  Something happened to Bee.  She remembered the overwhelming fear pouring through the link.  Rushing to ground bridge control.  Crosshairs and Skids carrying Bee through the gate.  The huge wound.  Bee’s optics going dark.</p>
<p>She reached for the bond in a panic, afraid she wouldn’t find anything on the other end, but he was there.  Muted, but there.  It almost felt like he was in a recharge cycle, but somehow, he felt more distant than that and when she tried to reach out to him there was no response.</p>
<p>“Where is he?” she asked as she tried to stand up.  Tried, because Greer pushed her back down onto the bed.</p>
<p>“Easy there,” Windblade said.  “He’s just across the hall.  Ratchet, Lifeline, First Aid, Triage and Velocity are all working on him.  You’re not going to do him any good if you go over there all panicked.  If I take you over there, can you stay calm and not jostle any elbows?”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Charlie said.  She wasn’t sure it was true, but she had to get to Bee.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“Nurse, bring in a wheelchair,” Greer said.</p>
<p>“I can walk,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Greer said, “but if you want to go anywhere, you’ll take the wheelchair.  Otherwise, you’re going to stay in this bed until morning.”</p>
<p>“Actually, Doc, I’ll carry her,” Windblade said.  “I think it would be easier on everyone.”</p>
<p>Greer looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.  He just nodded.  Charlie definitely wanted to argue, but she wanted to get to Bee more, and in the two years she’d been on the base, she’d gotten to know Greer well enough to know he would confine her to bed if she didn’t do what he said, so when Windblade held her hand out next to the bed, Charlie climbed into it, and held on as Windblade stood up and headed towards the door.</p>
<p>Bee’s room wasn’t exactly across the hall, but it was a short walk before Windblade carried her through the door into the observation room of one of the Autobot operating theaters.  What she saw as she looked down into the room terrified her.  Bee lay on a table, his severed arm laid across the table above his head, a massive cable was plugged into the back of his head, and his chest was opened up.  The area around the wound was covered with clamps to seal off energon leaks, and bypass tubes to route energon around sections of the circulatory system that didn’t exist anymore.  If Bee had been human, he’d be dead, and not for the first time, Charlie was thankful for Cybertronian resilience.  What worried her though, was Bee’s spark chamber.  Even from where she was, she could see the carbon scoring, and she could see the light of his spark peeking through.</p>
<p>Windblade lifted Charlie up and sat her on one of the Autobot head level catwalks that ran around the edge of the room to allow humans to observe what was going on, while conversing with Autobots in the observation room.  Charlie stepped up to the window, trying to swallow down the terror.  Thankfully, Lifeline glanced over and saw her and Windblade.  She leaned over and said something to Ratchet, who just nodded and waved her away.  Charlie watched as Lifeline walked over to the window separating the observation room from the operating theater and activated the intercom.</p>
<p>“He’s alive, and he’s stable,” Lifeline said.</p>
<p>“His spark chamber is breached,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Yes, but his body dropped into stasis lock before any damage was done to the spark itself.  None of his innermost energon has been spilled, and we have him on external support to bypass the damage to the spark chamber.”</p>
<p>“How long will the repairs take?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“That’s a complicated question,” Lifeline said, and Charlie felt her heart sink.  Was it possible there was some damage that couldn’t be made right?  Damage to his memory cells maybe?</p>
<p>“I don’t wish to alarm you.  We do expect Bumblebee to make a full recovery.  However, that recovery will be a bit more involved than just a patch job on his mesh.  Damage to a spark chamber is difficult enough to repair because of the risk to the spark itself, but Bee’s t-cog has been destroyed.”</p>
<p>“So he won’t be able to transform?”</p>
<p>“We have a treatment plan to address the damage, but I want to give you some background so you understand what to expect.  Bumblebee is fairly young by bot standards.  He was only forged a few Vorn before the war started.  That said, he has seen a great deal of fighting in his time, and this is not his first catastrophic injury.  On top of that, he was forged on an older frame design that was not intended for military use.  Put simply, Ms. Watson, his frame has largely been held together with spot welds, hope and spite since before he left Cybertron, and this latest injury is more than the frame can take.  Short of full cybermatter emersion, there’s no way to make his current frame functional.  As luck would have it, there is a fresh crop of protoforms that were scheduled to be spark infused tomorrow, so we are going to pull one and perform a spark transplant.”</p>
<p>Charlie felt a knot of fear settle in her stomach.  “How dangerous is that?” she asked.</p>
<p>“The risk to his spark is very small,” Lifeline said.  “Spark transplants used to be very common.  The main reason the procedure isn’t performed more often is the lack of available protoforms.  Prior to the war, protoforms were often stockpiled and held in status for Vorns, but since the war began, both sides have been so desperate for troops that protoforms are often spark infused and pressed into service the day they leave the assembly line.  In this case, we’re lucky.  We happen to have available protoforms, so the transplant should be a fairly trivial procedure.</p>
<p>“The main issue will be the memory transfer.  Normally, during a spark transplant, we move the memory core as well, but his memory core has extensive prior damage, and moving it could cause a collapse of the memory cells.  We connected him to a cortical psychic patch and are downloading his memories to an external drive.  We believe we’ll be able to recover all his memories since there’s no new damage to his memory core, but as his Conjunx, you have the right to make medical decisions for him, and we have a fairly important one that will need to be made before we can move forward.”</p>
<p>“What’s that?”</p>
<p>“There are several protoforms currently available.  We haven’t been producing a lot of two wheel protoforms because they’re at a disadvantage in combat, but we do have a few because they are incredibly useful for recon and scouting missions.  Their fast, agile and consume less energon than large frames.  We have a number of scout frames, which are the same size as Bee’s current frame.  We also have some war frames and heavy industrial frames.  The heavy industrial frames are roughly the same size as Optimus and Ultra Magnus.  The war frames are closer in size to Grapple, Inferno and Bulkhead.  All the frames are military grade, and Optimus said to let you choose whichever one of the frame sizes you think Bumblebee would prefer.”</p>
<p>Charlie stared at Lifeline for a moment, turning the options over in her head.  The two-wheel frame whispered at her seductively.  She loved Bee the way he was and she’d never once regretted the decision she’d made in a clearing the day Bumblebee had slipped and told her he loved her, but the thought of being able to put her arms around him, of having less of a size disparity between them was tempting.  There was more to it than that though.  Two wheelers didn’t get assigned to combat teams.  It wasn’t that they never saw combat or were never in danger, and it wasn’t that they were left out of assaults, but two wheelers were scouts, recon specialists, infiltrators, saboteurs and if it came to it, assassins.  They weren’t front line troops.  Bee would be safer.  Not safe, none of them were safe, but safer, and what person didn’t want that for the people they loved?  If she did it, Bee would understand, he would even forgive her, but he would never be happy with being sidelined, with doing less than he felt he should.  She couldn’t do that to him, not for her own sake.</p>
<p>The war frame was the next to whisper its charms.  Solidly built, strong and powerful.  Designed from the ground up to withstand the rigors of combat, capable of carrying more and more powerful weapons.  He would be tougher, more likely to survive any given fight, but there would be so many more of them.  The war frame would put him on the front line, but more than that, Charlie knew Bee relied on his speed and agility in a fight.  Bee was small, but he had offlined much larger opponents by simply out maneuvering them.  Putting him in a war frame would mean he’d have to learn to fight all over again.</p>
<p>He’d have the same issue with the heavy industrial frames, but there was more to it than that.  Selfishly, she knew that putting him in a larger frame would make things harder for them.  She loved Bee, but she couldn’t pretend like the size difference didn’t exist.  That it didn’t make some aspects of their relationship tricky.  Something that would only get worse if he were the size of Optimus or Bulkhead.</p>
<p>“Put him in the scout frame,” Charlie said.  She hoped it was the right choice.  It was a military grade frame.  He’d be sturdier, better built for the life he lived, but he would still be her Bumblebee.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Lifeline said.  “We’ll begin prepping the new protoform for the transplant.  The memory download will take another eight to ten groon.  If we’re able to retrieve the memories uncorrupted, we’ll upload them to the new protoform.  The memory upload will go faster because the new memory core will be more stable, and we won’t run the risk of catastrophic failure if we push its performance window.  We’ll do an energon transfusion while the memories load to imprint his CNA on the protoform.  We should be ready to start the transplant in around this time tomorrow.”</p>
<p>“You said ‘if you’re able to retrieve his memories.’”</p>
<p>Lifeline nodded.  “I’m not going to lie to you, Ms. Watson.  Bee’s memory core suffered extensive damage when he first arrived on Earth.  While you were able to get his memory core online again, and his natural healing process was able to make a good deal of the damage right over the past few years, the prior damage does make it possible that we will be unable to recover his memories.  We don’t anticipate any problems, but we can’t rule out the possibility.”</p>
<p>“So, he could wake up and not remember anything,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“That is a possibility.  We have no reason to expect that to be the case, but we can’t rule it out until we have his memories downloaded into the external drive banks and have run an error validation.”</p>
<p>“Lifeline,” Ratchet called out.</p>
<p>“Excuse me,” Lifeline said.  “I have to get back to Bumblebee.”</p>
<p>Charlie watched as she walked away, but then she felt a touch on her shoulder and turned to find Windblade looking at her.  “Come on,” she said.  “Let’s get you some food.”</p>
<p>“I can’t leave him,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“You can,” Windblade said in a gentle voice.  “He’d want you to take care of yourself.  We’ll get you some food, and you can come back in a bit and sit with him for a while.  Then I’ll take you back to your quarters so you can get some sleep.”</p>
<p>Charlie turned back and looked at Bee.  She wanted to stay with him, but seeing him like that was hard, and Windblade was right about her needing food.  Probably more important, she needed to let her nerves settle.  Bee was going to be okay.  Bee had to be okay.  But she wasn’t going to be able to believe that if she sat there, staring at his ruined body.</p>
<p>“Okay,” she said.</p>
<p>Windblade held out her hand, and Charlie stepped into it, not bothering to argue that she could make it to the cafeteria under her own power.  She just closed her eyes and reached out through the bond, settling in as the warmth of his spark filled her.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Windblade dropped Charlie at the entrance to the human cafeteria, then headed towards the fueling station, moving largely on autopilot as she turned what Lifeline had said over in her head.  The idea of Bee losing his memories, of never getting them back…  She didn’t know how to process that.  Bee had been a fixture in her life since the day she arrived on Cybertron.  The two stellar cycles after Tyger Pax where she thought Bee was dead was the worst time of her life.  She didn’t even want to think of the number of times she considered offlining herself during that time.  She’d only snapped out of it when they found Bee alive.</p>
<p>She picked up an empty stein and headed over to the oil bar and looked at the various options.  She normally went for straight energon with a few minerals mixed in, but she needed something with a little bite.  A lot of the bots went for 99 octane when they were looking for a buzz, but she’d always found gasoline a bit soft for her tastes when she was in a mood like this, so she marched down to the end of the fueling station, and poured herself a stein of type B jet fuel.</p>
<p>Once her stein was full, she turned and spotted Charlie in her usual spot at the balcony, and she walked over and sat next to her.  The balcony brought Charlie up to Windblade’s eye level, and she did a quick check of Charlie’s plate.  A ‘burger’ and ‘onion rings’.  Windblade didn’t really understand the ins and outs of human fuel, but it was a meal Charlie ate often enough that she didn’t have to worry that Charlie was ignoring her own needs in her distress.</p>
<p>She gave Charlie a weak smile, the best she could muster, before she took a sip of her Jet Fuel, the mixture of naptha, kerosene and gasoline burning on its way down, leaving a buzz behind as her body began the energon conversion process.  What she really wanted was to down the whole stein, then go back to the tap for five or six refills.  Get herself good and overcharged and just forget the world for a while.  She couldn’t though.  A little buzz to take the edge off was one thing, but she would never forgive herself if she wasn’t there for Charlie when Charlie needed her.</p>
<p>She glanced up at Charlie and thought back to the day she’d met her.  Watching Bee and Charlie’s corvette come through the ground bridge.  Watching Charlie step out of the corvette.  Hearing Bee tell Optimus Charlie was his Conjunx Endura.</p>
<p>She’d know before he left that Charlie was important to him, and she’d known from the moment she landed on Earth that something had changed.  He’d turned her down the few times she’d invited him back to her quarters, so she’d stopped asking, trying to give him space to work it out.  She listened when he talked about what had happened to him, but she had known he was leaving something out.  She just hadn’t made the connection between his sudden reluctance to interface and how much he clearly wanted to go back and find this Charlie person until that moment.</p>
<p>In a lot of ways, it had ripped her heart out, but the truth of it was, she had no one to blame but herself.  She’d never told Bee how she really felt.  In fact, she’d gone out of her way to hide her feelings.  Most bots couldn’t hide their feelings during interfacing.  The connection through the spark rings on their spike and in their valve let the interfacing bots’ sparks touch.  It wasn’t a spark bond, but the two bots shared a bit of themselves, shared feeling and sensations as two became one, even if it was just for a few moments.  But Windblade wasn’t any bot.  She was a City Speaker.  She had trained for more than a hundred vorn to fill that role, and she could partition off entire sections of herself to keep them from contaminating the link with a titan.  Hiding how much she loved Bee, how desperately she wanted him, that had been child’s play for her.</p>
<p>She hated herself for ever doing it, but she had been so scared during those early days of the war.  It was harder then, before the soldiers had picked up experience, when bots were dying by the thousands and the tens of thousands in every battle.  One day, she’s seen Bee have a near miss she wasn’t sure he’d even noticed.  A shot from a seeker’s null ray that passed so close she’d see the paint on one of his back plates blister.  That night, she’d led him to her recharge shelf, and took him inside her and if she had it to do again, she wouldn’t have held back.  She would have let him see everything.  Let him see how much he mattered to her.  The first person in her life since her powers manifested to look at her and just see Windblade and not the City Speaker.</p>
<p>But then, at the start of the war, she’d been afraid.  She’d been terrified.  Terrified that her feelings would scare him away.  He was younger than her, and she was so young most people would think her foolish for even considering a Conjunx.  But also, she was terrified that he would say yes, because there was the very real chance that she would lose him in the war, and if even the possibility of that hurt so badly, how much worse would it be if they became spark mates, and she had to watch him die?</p>
<p>So, she’d locked those feelings away every time they interfaced.  She pretended it was casual, pretended it was just friends working off stress.  She’d hidden her hurt when Bee told her he’d interfaced with Hot Rod.  She’d hidden what she felt and what she wanted for so long that she became afraid of how Bee would react if he ever found out the truth.  She’d hidden it until Charlie had come along and taken the place she’d wanted for herself.</p>
<p>She’d wanted to resent Charlie for that, wanted to hate her, but she couldn’t, because Charlie brought Bee so much joy.  When Charlie was there, Windblade got to see a side of Bee she hadn’t seen since he was captured at the battle of Tyger Pax.</p>
<p>She might have still managed it, might have still been able to hate Charlie if Charlie had been even a little bit less kind, or a little bit more selfish, or jealous, or possessive, but she wasn’t.  She was just… Charlie.  Charlie who had known from day one that Windblade and Hot Rod had been Bee’s lovers, but who would pack Hot Rod and Bee off to go racing in the desert, who had somehow arranged it so Bee and Windblade always had at least one free night a week in common, who had found someone to make her sour energon gummies and invited her to movie nights and who’d gotten a pilot’s license so it was legal for her to fly Windblade’s alt mode, and who spent time working on a certification in aviation maintenance.</p>
<p>She’d wanted to hate Charlie, but instead, she’d ended up falling in love with her too, for all the reasons she loved Bee.  Charlie saw her, not the City Speaker, but Windblade, the lonely femme who more than anything wanted people who cared for her and not for the gifts and abilities which set her apart.</p>
<p>And now, she might lose one of the only two people to ever look at her that way.</p>
<p>She had no doubt that if Bee lost his memories, he and Charlie would find their way back to each other.  The spark bond guaranteed that.  It forged an unbreakable connection between them.  One that would endure, even beyond death.  But she had no such guarantee.  If Bee’s memories were gone, he might not see her the same way.  He might look at her and see only a City Speaker, see only the thing that made her alien, even among her own kind.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Charlie…”</p>
<p>Charlie was sitting in her usual spot in the cafeteria.  It was one of the tables that faced the edge of the balcony into the fueling bay for the Autobots, while Windblade sat at the table on the Autobot side of the divide.  She’d spent the past half hour staring out at the bots drinking their barrel sized steins of energon, or gasoline, or jet fuel in Windblade’s case.  She knew by Windblade’s choice of beverage that Windblade was having almost as much trouble dealing with what happened to Bee as she was, but thankfully Windblade hadn’t wanted to talk about it anymore than she had.  Instead, Wildblade had seemed content to let Charlie sit in peace once she’d finished her burger and onion rings, so Charlie had just zoned out and focused on holding on to the warm presence of Bumblebee’s spark, no matter how dimmed it was by the stasis lock.</p>
<p>The sound of her named was enough to break the spell, and she turned to find Smokescreen standing there next to Windblade.  She couldn’t quite manage a smile for him, and she felt a little guilty about that.  They were friends.  Good friends.  They had been even before Bee and Smokescreen had been assigned to the same team.  They flirted a bit, but then Charlie flirted with a few of Bee’s friends.  Windblade, Hot Rod and after she’d realized Bee was nursing a bit of a crush, Arcee.  It had always made Bee smile, and it made Charlie feel like she was welcome, like she was a part of the family.  She’d been worried about that.  Worried Bee’s ex-lovers wouldn’t take kindly to the girl who stole him away, but aside from Hot Rod’s chronic foot in mouth disease the first six months or so, they’d both been there for her, right from the day she arrived.</p>
<p>Smokescreen was a little different.  He was one of the first bots she’d made friends with who wasn’t part of the Bumblebee package deal.  She’d been sitting in her usual spot in the cafeteria, moping a bit because Bee’s mission was an overnight assignment, and it was one of the few times when Windblade, Hot Rod or Arcee weren’t around to keep her company.  She was just sitting there alone when a bot with a garish blue, red and white paintjob had sat down in Bee’s usual spot and introduced himself.  She’d liked him right away because she saw a bit of herself in him.  Young, one of the last Autobots onlined on Cybertron, new to his job, eager to prove himself, covering up his insecurities with bravado and enthusiasm.</p>
<p>“Hey, Smokescreen,” she said.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he said.  “I…”</p>
<p>“What happened out there?” Windblade asked, making Smokescreen jump a little.</p>
<p>“It was Bee just being Bee,” he said.  “We were pinned down in a canyon, and the seekers kept strafing the entrance.  There was a switchback a little further in, and Bee moved back past it and climbed up the canyon wall.  The seekers were so focused on the mouth of the canyon, they didn’t notice Bee at the top until the pulled up from their strafing run.  Bee jumped on Skyquake’s back as he’s climbing away from the canyon.  Bee stabbed him a few times with his arm blade, then shoved his hand in through the hole he’d made and just started ripping his wires out.  When Skyquake lost control, he slammed into Blackout, and both of them went down in the back of the canyon.  Bee went down with them, and for a moment, I thought we’d lost him, but then he comes running up the canyon, with a few dents and a smile on his face.  That’s when Bee called for evac, but before the ground bridge opened, Dreadwing came in and Strongarm stepped out of cover to take a shot at him.  I tried to stop her, but I couldn’t get there in time, and Bee was closer.  He got between her and one of those huge canons all the heavy seekers carry.”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t sound like it was your fault,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Bee left me in charge.  I knew Strongarm was a rookie.  I should have kept a closer eye on her-”</p>
<p>“Stop,” Charlie said.  Smokescreen stopped talking and just looked at her like he was waiting for her to pronounce sentence.  “I can’t do this right now.  You’re my friend, and I don’t want you to hurt, but right now, Bee’s laying in a hospital bed on life support while they get ready to move his spark to a new frame, and I can’t deal with your guilt right now.  So, what I need you to do is go talk to Optimus.  Tell him what happened and how you feel, and then when he gives you some amazing advice on how to cope with what happened, listen to it.  Okay?”</p>
<p>Smokescreen nodded.  “Okay.”</p>
<p>“Good.  And Smokescreen...”</p>
<p>“Yeah.”</p>
<p>“I’m not mad at you.  I just…  I only have room for Bee right now.”</p>
<p>Smokescreen nodded, and Charlie pushed herself to her feet, and headed for the door.</p>
<hr/>
<p>One of the advantages of her City Speaker training was that Windblade had leaned ages ago how to sit still for groons at a time.  Something which had served her well during the war, and which served her well as she sat with Charlie in the observation room connected to the operating theater where Bee was.  They stayed from lunch until well after nightfall, and they were far from the only visitors.  All three of the Witwickis, Sparkplug, Spike and Buster, civilian contractors who managed the base’s fuel supply.  Jack, Miko, Raf, Burns, Fowler, Lennox and Eps.  Courtney, the red-haired mechanic that Bee and Charlie were both fond of showed up around dinner time with a couple of long, tubular food items Windblade had never seen before and cups of mild acid.  Charlie wolfed down the food like she hadn’t refueled in days, then drank her acid.  Courtney sat with her while she ate, then carried away the trash, but didn’t say a word the whole time.</p>
<p>There were Autobots, too.  Ironhide, Brawn, Wheeljack, Hubcap, Bumper, Grimlock, Hound, Jazz, Bulkhead, Prowl, Skids, Crosshairs, Tracks, Backstreet, Hotshot, Road Rage, Ultra Magnus, Springer, Blurr, Arcee, Smokescreen and of course, Hot Rod.</p>
<p>Some of the visitors said things.  Some didn’t.  Windblade found she preferred the ones who didn’t.  She got the impression Charlie did too.  It took too much out of her to deal with her own worry and theirs too.  The older bots seemed to get it.  It was the ones that had been spark infused on Earth, like Backstreet, Hotshot and Road Rage that couldn’t seem to stop talking.  The younger humans too, though Sparkplug had led his sons away before they said too much, and Jack had seemed to sense when it was time to lead Miko away.  Raf hadn’t said a word.  The soldiers and former soldiers were quiet too.</p>
<p>The only real surprise came when Optimus walked through the door.  She and Charlie both turned to look at him, but he just stepped up to the window and stared through at Bee.  She wasn’t sure how long it was before he finally spoke.</p>
<p>“I’ve taken you off the duty roster for the next three days,” he said.  “Eagle Eye will fill out your trine, while Maxima will command in your absence.”</p>
<p>“Eagle Eye’s barely a stellar cycle old,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“I know, but he won’t become more experienced sitting in barracks, and we’re too short on flyers to stand down your whole trine.”</p>
<p>Windblade nodded.  It went without saying that reassigning one of the Aerialbots was out of the question.  Breaking up a combiner team was a stupid move no matter what the reasoning.  Especially when the Decepticons had twice as many combiner teams to begin with.</p>
<p>Optimus turned to Charlie.  “I know that I am the last bot you want to see right now, but it is late, Charlie.  I would ask that you try to get some rest.  Bumblebee will need your strength tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Charlie looked up at Optimus for a moment, and Windblade could practically feel her struggle to find words.  One she eventually gave up, settling for a simple nod before she turned back to the window.  Optimus didn’t say anything else.  He just turned and left as silently as he had arrived.</p>
<p>Once he left, Windblade stood up, and walked over to where Charlie was sitting and held out her hand.  Charlie stood up and climbed into it without a word.  Windblade gave Bee one last look, promising him silently that whatever happened, she would take care of Charlie.  Then she turned and headed for the door.  Neither of them talked as Windblade carried her through the base.  They got a few odd looks, but for once, Windblade has happy about her reputation.  One glare from the City Speaker sent most bots on an urgent quest to be elsewhere, and while humans might not have the cultural respect and fear of a City Speaker built in, a lot of them were plenty intimidated by her facial markings, and quickly found a reason to be anywhere else.</p>
<p>When they got to the quarters Charlie and Bee shared, Windblade started to lean down to set Charlie on her feet, but Charlie reached out and rested a hand on her chest plate, right about her spark chamber, and Windblade froze.</p>
<p>“I don’t want to be alone,” Charlie said.  “Stay with me?”</p>
<p>Windblade stared at Charlie for a moment as she counted all the ways that spending the night in Bee’s quarters with Charlie would be a terrible idea.  They were both upset, emotions were running high, neither of them were in a good place mentally, and Windblade had feelings for Charlie that Charlie didn’t know about.  She should leave, because it would be too easy to do something stupid, to seek comfort where she shouldn’t, but the pleading in Charlie’s eyes sealed her fate.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Windblade said.  She held Charlie low enough that Charlie could unlock the door, then stepped into Charlie and Bee’s quarters.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Charlie wasn’t sure what she’d been thinking, inviting Windblade to spend the night in her and Bee’s quarters, other than that she couldn’t stand the thought of being alone.  The truth was, she needed Bee.  She needed to feel his plates beneath her hands, to feel his servos on her, to feel his spark.  The last two years had been wonderful, but it hadn’t always been easy, and on the bad days, the two of them retreated to their quarters and curled up together, warm plates against soft skin, and held each other, made love, or sometimes, he would just open his chest and she would lay a hand on his spark and they would lose themselves as their bond intensified until the lines between them vanished.</p>
<p>She wanted that now, the comfort and reassurance more than the physical pleasure.  The feeling that she wasn’t alone, would never be alone.  But even with Bee’s spark burning on the edge of her awareness, she felt alone for the first time since they had bonded.  She could still feel him, but she couldn’t reach him the way she normally could, and it hurt almost as much as the morning he left her after their fight with Dropkick and Shatter.</p>
<p>She’d invited Windblade in because she couldn’t stand feeling alone and having her there was soothing.  She’d figured out a few months after they bonded that Bee was in love with Windblade.  It wasn’t the same way he loved her, but it was still love, still romantic love.  She’d been a little hurt at first, worried that Bee had lied to her about his relationship with Windblade, but she’d talked to Bee about it because she didn’t want to believe he would lie to her, and he hadn’t.  He said that he’d had a huge crush on Windblade right from their first meeting.  He’d wanted to court her but thought he would never have a chance with her, and he had valued their friendship far too much to risk it for some ill-fated attempt at courtship.  Especially since Windblade rejected offers from far more impressive bots than him.  He’d tucked his crush down so far that he hardly ever thought about it until after the war started.  He said that when they started interfacing, he might have spoken up and asked to court her, except that when their sparks touched, he hadn’t felt anything that would indicate any sort of romantic interest on her part.  She was looking for comfort, for reassurance, for a way to relieve stress and burn off energy, and she felt safe enough with him that she could come to him when she needed too.  He hadn’t wanted to risk that trust, so he’d pushed his feelings down, and been the friend she needed, because he loved her enough to put her needs over his fantasies.</p>
<p>It was such a Bee thing to do, to put his own needs aside for his friend, and honestly, that should have been the end of it.  Except that when the two of them spent time with Windblade together, she could feel what Bee felt through their bond, and somewhere along the line, Bee’s feelings had become her feelings too.  Friendship, love, desire.  They were all mixed up where Windblade was concerned, and Charlie had asked her to stay the night.</p>
<p>“I can recharge on the floor, if you want,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“No,” Charlie said.  “Take the shelf.  That is, if you don’t mind sharing with a squishy human.”</p>
<p>“I suppose I can deal with your squishiness for one night,” Windblade said as she sat down on the recharge shelf and folded in her wings.</p>
<p>“I’ll just be a minute,” Charlie said.  “There are some sour energon gummies and some copper covered energon mints in the cabinet if you need fuel.”  She grabbed her pajamas and ducked into the bathroom Wheeljack had added when she first arrived on at the base.  She took a moment to use the bathroom, then get cleaned up for the night before changing.  She was halfway to the door when she stopped and looked at herself in the mirror and began to rethink her choice of sleepwear.  She would have preferred to sleep naked so she could feel the warmth of Bee’s panels against her skin, but after the first time there had been a middle of the night alarm, and she’d been left searching for underwear while Bee made a dash for the ground bridge, she’d settled for a pair of thin cotton boy shorts and an equally thin cotton tank top, and a set of BDU’s kept in easy reach near the bed.  She wondered for a moment if she should change, but then she shook her head.  Windblade probably wouldn’t care if she was naked, so she might as well be comfortable.  She exited the bathroom and dropped the day’s clothes in the hamper before climbing the stares up to the recharge shelf.</p>
<p>“So, um… How does this work?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>“Just lay down,” Charlie said.  Windblade nodded and laid down on the shelf.  Once she was settled in place, Charlie grabbed her pillow and comforter and stepped onto the shelf.</p>
<p>“Move your right arm out a little,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Okay.”  Windblade shifted her arm away from her body, and Charlie stepped over it, then lay down next to Windblade.  She put down her pillow, then pressed herself against Windblade’s side.</p>
<p>“Is this okay?” she asked.</p>
<p>“Yes,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Charlie spread the comforter over her, and snuggling in against Windblade, pressing as much of her body as she could against the warm metal plates, then she spread her comforter over her.</p>
<p>“Can you um…  Your arm…”</p>
<p>Windblade shifted her arm in, pressing it against Charlie’s back.</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Anything else?”</p>
<p>“Hit the light switch.”</p>
<p>Windblade reached up with her left hand and turned the lights off, and Charlie settled in, enjoying the warmth of Windblade’s body, and the feel of being cradled between her arm and side.  She shifted a little to get comfortable, and for the first time since she felt Bee’s surge of fear that morning, she felt some of the tension start to drain out of her.  Her body knew this, knew it was time to rest.  She shifted again, her body seeking her usual sleeping position out of habit.  Right leg bent at the knee, and thrown up over the curve of Windblade’s hip, and her hand up to rest over…</p>
<p>She stopped, her hand just an inch or so above the metal of Windblade’s chest plate as she realized what she was doing.</p>
<p>“Sorry,” she said as she started to pull her hand away.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Windblade said.  “Go ahead.”</p>
<p>Charlie looked up at her.  “Are you sure?”</p>
<p>“Yes.”</p>
<p>Charlie rested her hand on Windblade’s chest plate, right about the spark chamber.  She was a little surprised that Windblade allowed it.  It was an intimate gesture, more so among Cybertronians that humans, because that close, a Cybertronian’s ability to sense EM fields made it all but impossible not to feel the spark of the person whose chest they were touching.  What surprised Charlie even more than Windblade allowing the contact was that she could feel Windblade’s spark, as if it were calling out for her the way Bee’s did when she touched him like that.  She’d always assumed she could feel Bee’s spark because of their bond, but while it wasn’t as strong, she could definitely feel Windblade’s spark reaching out for her.  Maybe it was because of the spark bond.  Maybe being connected to Bee would let her feel anyone’s spark, and maybe all sparks naturally reached for each other.  Bee had told her once that every spark was a fragment of the allspark, which was the lifeforce of Primus himself.  If that were true, then maybe sparks all longed to reunite, to become one again.</p>
<p>“Thank you for staying,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Of course I stayed,” Windblade said.  “You and Bee are my family.  Now get some rest.  Bee will need us tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Charlie closed her eyes, thinking how much she liked the sound of that.  Windblade as part of her and Bee’s family.  It was her last thought before exhaustion pulled her down into a deep sleep.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Windblade knew she should spend some time in stasis to recharge.  It wasn’t as necessary for her as it was for a bot like Bee, since she’d been built on a Camien military Seeker frame.  Military models had a lot more power to burn, but she tried to recharge every night to maximize her up time in the event that something happened which prevented her from recharging for a while.  But despite knowing she should, she couldn’t bring herself to drop off into statis.  Instead, she lay on the shelf, taking in every moment of Charlie being pressed against her side.</p>
<p>It was wonderful and torturous at the same time.  She could feel Bee’s spark right above her own, and she could feel something else which had to be Charlie’s spark, because it was so mixed up with Bee’s that she had to work to separate them.  Both of them pulled at her, called out to her spark, and made her ache to join with them.  It had been stellar cycles since she’d interfaced with Bee, not since before the fall of Cybertron, and she felt so alone.</p>
<p>Sometimes, in her weaker moments, she’d been tempted to find a lover.  It wasn’t like she had any shortage of offers, but none of them had ever felt right.  The spark wants what the spark wants.</p>
<p>Charlie let out a small moan, and Windblade turned to look at her, to make sure she was okay, but as she watched, Charlie leaned in and pressed a kiss to her plates, and the leg she had thrown partially over Windblade’s leg began to slide up and down slowly as Charlie started to rub a small circle over her spark chamber.  Windblade wasn’t sure what was happening.  She knew she should put a stop to whatever it was, but she was frozen, right up until Charlie spoke.</p>
<p>“Bee…,” she said in a voice that made Windblade’s modesty panels twitch.  “God, babe, I need you.”  Charlie hooked her leg over Windblade’s and ground herself against Windblade’s thigh.  “Please, Bee.  I need you in me so bad.”</p>
<p>Windblade felt a sharp tug at her spark and reached up, carefully stilling the hand above her spark chamber with one of her digits.</p>
<p>“Charlie,” she said, her voice low.</p>
<p>“Please, Babe,” Charlie begged, “I’m so wet for you.”</p>
<p>“Charlie!” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Charlie jerked back, and looked up at Windblade, and even in the dark, Windblade could see the blush rising in Charlie’s cheeks as she realized what she’d been doing.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Charlie said as she started to try to crawl out from between Windblade’s arm and body.  Windblade reached out with her left hand and stilled Charlie’s motion.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Charlie shook her head.  “I’m sorry.  I… God, you must be disgusted by me.”</p>
<p>“No,” Windblade said.  “Not disgusted.  Confused.  How could you mistake me for Bumblebee?”</p>
<p>Charlie shook her head.  “I wasn’t awake.”</p>
<p>“But you were moving and talking,” Windblade said.  “How could you…  Is this a human thing?”</p>
<p>Charlie nodded.  “The way I explained it to Bee is, we don’t online all at once.  Sometimes, we react to things that are familiar without our higher brain turning on.”</p>
<p>“So, you were reacting to me?”</p>
<p>“Warm panels, a feeling of safety, the feeling of your spark pulling at me.”  Charlie closed her eyes and rested her head against Windblade’s side plates.  “When I’ve had a bad day, when I’m stressed, or upset, or scared, touching Bee’s spark calms me.  It reminds me that I’m safe and loved and that he’s with me.  If I’ve had a bad day, and I go to sleep without that, I wake up in the middle of the night looking for that connection, and making love…  Interfacing is the easiest way to get it.”</p>
<p>Windblade thought about what Charlie said.  It sounded like waking from sleep was a bit like a soft reboot for humans.  Low level systems and sub-routines coming online first while the higher cognitive processes came online once all the support systems were up and running.  It wasn’t a precise one to one analog, given what she’d seen from various humans, but she also knew some of them didn’t function efficiently when they came out of a sleep cycle until they’d consumed a neuro-accelerant called ‘coffee’.  Talking to them was a bit like talking to Ratchet before he’d had his morning cube of energon.</p>
<p>“Lay back down,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“Are you sure?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Windblade said.  Charlie stretched back out beside her and rested her face against Windblade’s side plates.  Windblade pressed her right forearm against Charlie’s back, and reached across with her left servo, laying it over Charlie.</p>
<p>“I miss him too,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“He’ll be back up and running tomorrow,” Charlie said.  “Good as new.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Windblade said, ignoring the possibility that he wouldn’t remember either of them.  “But I’ll still miss him.”  She felt Charlie shift beside her, and she could feel Charlie’s gaze on her.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?”</p>
<p>“Did Bee ever tell you why I came to Cybertron, or why I stayed when the war started?”</p>
<p>“No,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“A lot of bots will tell you that Caminus was a wonderful place to live before the war reached it, and for most bots, that’s true, but I’m not most bots.  I’m a City Speaker, and on Caminus, that has certain ramifications.”</p>
<p>“Like what?”</p>
<p>“One of the foundations of Camien culture is the Amica Endura.  It’s a form of spark bond.  An Amica is your best friend.  Someone you care about and trust so much you share a bit of yourself with them.  On Cybertron and most of its colonies, having an Amica or not is a personal choice, but on Caminus, you were expected to have one by a certain age, and if you didn’t, people would look down on you, consider you defective.”</p>
<p>“That sounds awful,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Maybe,” Windblade said.  “But City Speakers are forbidden from taking an Amica or a Conjunx.  The trainers claim that a spark bond will interfere with a City Speaker’s abilities.  When my abilities showed themselves, I was spark broken at the idea that I’d never get to have an Amica or a Conjunx.  I was only a couple of Vorn old when my abilities manifested.  There I am, barely more than a sparkling myself, when I’m taken away from my mentor, and being told that once I’ve finished my training, I can have anything, except the one thing I wanted.  That I’d have to spend my life alone, on a world where everyone else has an Amica.”</p>
<p>Charlie reached up and rested her hand over Windblade’s spark, and Windblade felt the pull again, towards her and Bee.  She closed her optics.</p>
<p>“When I got offered the chance to go to Cybertron I jumped at it, and…  I’ve never told anyone this before, not even Bee, but after I met Bee, I swore I’d never go back.  Having a friend, having someone who just saw me and not the City Speaker, it was everything I’d ever dreamed of.”</p>
<p>“Did you ever ask him to be your Amica?”</p>
<p>“No,” Windblade said.  “I should have, but I was afraid.  I’d just met him, and I knew I wanted him to be a part of my life, but how do you say to someone you’ve just met a few groons ago ‘would you spend the next few million years with me?’.  I thought I could wait.  I thought I had time.  Bee was young, and so was I, but then there was a war, and things got confusing and I realized…”</p>
<p>Windblade stopped as she realized what she’d been about to say.</p>
<p>“You realized what?”</p>
<p>“Nothing,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“It’s not nothing.”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t matter.”</p>
<p>“Tell me anyway,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Charlie…”</p>
<p>“You were in love with him, weren’t you?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>The room filled with silence as Windblade lay there, turning Charlie’s question over in her head, trying to decide if she wanted to answer it or not.  She kept telling herself she should deny it, that she should protect her friendship with Charlie and Bee, but that’s how she got to where she was, and she was tired of hiding it.</p>
<p>“I still am,” she said.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Charlie said.  “You must hate me so much.”</p>
<p>“What?  No!  Primus, Charlie, no.  I…  Here,” she said. She opened her spark chamber, the glow from her spark lighting up the room, but Windblade focused on Charlie’s face.  “Go on.”</p>
<p>Charlie looked up at her for a long time before she turned towards her spark.  She reached out slowly, her hand hovering over it.</p>
<p>“Is this…  I don’t…  Bee and I do this when we’re together,” Charlie said, and Windblade realized the source of Charlie’s hesitation.  She was afraid that Bee would be hurt that she’d touched someone else’s spark.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Windblade said.  “I promise it is.  This isn’t something we do casually, but it’s not…  I’m sorry, I don’t know the human words, but I promise you, it doesn’t violate your vows to Bee.  This is a part of the Amica ceremony, which is a bond of friendship.  It’s not inherently an act of courtship.”</p>
<p>Charlie nodded, and lowered her hand into Windblade’s spark chamber.  She felt the pull of Bee and Charlie’s spark tugging at hers, and it was a beautiful pain, like her spark was going to be pulled out of her frame and cast into paradise.  But as wonderful as it was, it was nothing like the moment when Charlie touched her spark.  It was the first time she’d ever let her spark connect to another without mental barriers in place to hide her secrets away, and difference was stunning.  She felt seen and she felt whole and Primus, she felt loved.  So loved.  She felt it flowing from Charlie and from Bee and it was incredible.  She let the love she felt for both of them flow back through the connection, and she felt their sparks reach out for hers again, but she cried out when Charlie pulled away, breaking the connection.  She looked down at Charlie, who was looking up at her with eyes leaking lubricant.</p>
<p>“What’s wrong?” she asked.  “Why did you pull away?”</p>
<p>“Because I can’t make that decision for Bee,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“What do you mean?  What decision?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>“You don’t…  No, of course you don’t.  Close up, please.”</p>
<p>Windblade closed her spark chamber, and immediately felt Charlie’s hand settle on her chest plate right about her spark.  She felt the pull from Bee and Charlie’s spark again, stronger than before.</p>
<p>“You nearly spark bonded with me,” Charlie said.  “I’m not sure how it works, but I think you almost spark bonded with both of us.”</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean too,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“I know,” Charlie said.  “I could feel it.  I know you didn’t mean it, but I could also feel how desperately you wanted it.”</p>
<p>“Charlie…” Windblade said, without really having any idea what words should follow, because Charlie was right.  She wanted Bee and she wanted Charlie both, and not just for casual interfacing.</p>
<p>“We’ll talk about it,” Charlie said.  “When Bee is well again, all three of us will sit down and talk about it.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Windblade said, wondering just what that conversation would bring.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Good news,” Lifeline said.  “The memory download finished and the memory cells in his old frame are still intact.  We’ve completed five validation passes and haven’t found any corruption in the data.  We’re currently at eighty percent on the upload to the new memory core.  Once that’s done, we’ll do a couple of validation passes, and if the new memory core passes, we’ll be ready for the spark transplant.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Charlie said, relief flooding through her at the news that Bee was going to be okay.  She felt a touch on her back and glanced over her shoulder to see Windblade smiling at her.</p>
<p>“It will be a couple of groons before we’re ready to proceed with the transplant.  If you have other things you’d like to do, I can have you paged when it’s time for the procedure.”</p>
<p>“Will you be okay by yourself?” Windblade asked.  Charlie could hear the unasked question though.  Did she want Windblade to stay?  The answer was yes, but she could sense the nervous energy in the bot, so she reached up and ran her hand over one of Windblade’s digits.</p>
<p>“Go stretch your wings,” Charlie said.  “We’ll call you when it’s time.”</p>
<p>“You sure?”</p>
<p>“Go on,” Charlie said, making a shooing motion.</p>
<p>Windblade nodded and headed towards the door, and Charlie watched her go until she was out of sight before turning back to Bee.  There were two tables set up in the operating theater now, and a bright yellow and black 93 Chevy Camaro.  Bee lay on the table nearest the glass, still in stasis lock.  The medics had done a lot of repair work, Charlie assumed to keep him stable until time for the transplant, but there was no longer puddles of energon in his frame and on the table, and a patch had been fixed in place over the breech in his spark chamber.   The cortical psychic patch cable was still connected to the back of his head, while another cable was plug into the protoform that lay on the second table.</p>
<p>She was never quite certain what to make of a protoform.  The roughly humanoid shape, the metal skeleton, the body that was seemingly made of some sort of liquid and flowed and rippled but somehow held its shape, and at the center, where the heart would be for a human, an open spark chamber.</p>
<p>As she watched, Ratchet said something to Lifeline, and she nodded, then picked up a device that looked like a gun with a gallon jug on top.  She pressed it into Bee’s neck, and Charlie watched as the jug filled with energon.  Once it was full, she said something to Ratchet, and he waved his hand in the general direction of the protoform.  Lifeline touched a control on the table, and the liquid metal pulled back, exposing a port.  Lifelife plugged the gun into the port, and pulled the trigger, and the energon drained out of it.  Charlie watched as the protoform reacted, slowly changing.  Patches of the silvery liquid turned yellow, and the head took shape, as did chest and arm plated, until finally, the protoform looked a lot like Bee did when Charlie first met him.  The alt mode was clearly different, something more streamlined, sleek, and maybe a little alien, but the head was pure Bee, right down to the speaker grill where the mouth should be.</p>
<p>It was weird saying Bee laying on a table, wounded and on life support, and seeing Bee on another table, healthy but without a spark.  It was a reminder of just how alien Bee and the other Autobots really were, that Bee was virtually immortal and baring death in combat, he would live for millions of years.  Long after she was gone, long after her culture was gone, very possibly long after humanity was gone, Bee would still be out there.</p>
<p>She would spend the rest of her life with Bee.  There was never any doubt about that.  She loved him, and she didn’t want to imagine life without him.  But he couldn’t spend the rest of his life with her, and she wondered if maybe she had been selfish to spark bond with him.  She hadn’t known at the time how long lived Cybertronians were, but she hadn’t asked, either.  In a way, what had happened the night before with Windblade was a Godsend.  The fact that Bee loved Windblade, and Windblade loved him.  If Bee was open to it, if he was willing to invite Windblade into their bond, then when Charlie’s time came, Bee would still have someone there who loved him and cared for him.  If they invited Windblade into their bond, then she wouldn’t have to worry about leaving him alone.</p>
<p>She heard the door open behind her, and the sound of heavy peds on the floor.  At first, she thought it was just Windblade coming back, but that wasn’t right.  Windblade was annoyingly light on her feet for someone whose weight was measured in tons.  She turned, expecting to find Bulkhead, or Arcee, maybe Grimlock.  Instead, she saw Strongarm standing there.</p>
<p>“Oh…” Strongarm said.  “I’m sorry, ma’am.  I didn’t know you’d be here.”</p>
<p>“He’s my husband,” Charlie said.  “Where else would I be?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know.  I um…  I guess I didn’t think about it.  I just wanted to see him.”</p>
<p>“I’m not going to stop you,” Charlie said.  Strongarm struggled for words, like there were a thousand things she wanted to say but couldn’t decide if she should say any of them.</p>
<p>“Thank you, ma’am,” Strongarm said finally.</p>
<p>Charlie watched as Strongarm stepped up to the glass and looked at Bee and felt the same rush of jealousy she always did around Strongarm.  She had never been able to pin down why it was she was so jealous of Strongarm in particular.  It wasn’t like she was the only bot who had a thing for Bee.  One of the biggest surprises when she’d first arrived on the base was just how many bots seemed to want Bee.  </p>
<p>She’d known about Hot Rod and Windblade, but she was sure if Bee had ever acted on his crush, Arcee wouldn’t have turned him down.  Moonracer, Blurr, Searchlight, Pipes, Tailgate, Glyph, Vibes, Quickslinger…  Hell, sometimes she thought it would be easier to list the Autobots who didn’t seem to have a bit of a thing for Bee.  She knew that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it hadn’t felt that way the first few months she’d been on base.  The older bots tended to look at Bee like a kid brother, or a nephew, or in a few cases, like a son, and Bee seemed to get that and accept it.  What Bee never seemed to notice was the hero worship in the eyes of the younger bots, the ones who came online or joined the Autobots after the war started.  He didn’t hear the whispers about how he’d taken down three separate triple changers, or how he’d come back from the dead, or how he was the last Autobot besides Prime to leave Cybertron, or how he’d survived being tortured by Shockwave, and escaped from a Decepticon prison in the heart of Kaon.</p>
<p>It had stopped bothering her after a while because Windblade was right.  Bee was delightfully oblivious to how so many of the younger bots looked at him.  Until Strongarm came online.  It didn’t help that Strongarm was beautiful.  Charlie wasn’t the kind of person to pretend that she didn’t know she was beautiful, but Strongarm wasn’t just beautiful, she was beautiful by Cybertronian standards, and no matter how many times Bee told her he thought she was beautiful, she always felt a little insecure about the fact that she was human, and that Bee was surrounded by a lot of gorgeous members of his own species.  There was also the fact that she lacked a certain bit of anatomy that all Cybertronians had.  But it wasn’t just that.  She knew a lot of the bots didn’t understand what Bee saw in her or why any bot would pair off with a human, even though Bee wasn’t the only one anymore.  Skids and Tracks both had human spouses living on base and Powerglide was dating some billionaire heiress who spent at least three days a week at the base.  The difference was, while those bots might not understand it, and she’d heard enough comments to know a few even actively resented it, they all respected the fact that Charlie was Bee’s Conjunx.  Strongarm, for whatever reason, didn’t.  Or at least, it didn’t seem that way to Charlie.</p>
<p>“I know I’m probably the last bot you want to see right now,” Strongarm said, breaking the silence between them.  “But thank you.”</p>
<p>“For what?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“For letting me be here,” Strongarm said.  “For not sending me away.  Primus knows I wouldn’t blame you.”</p>
<p>“You’re part of Bee’s team,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“After this, I doubt it.  Honestly, I’ll be surprised if I don’t get stuck collecting empty steins and energon cubes in the fueling station.”</p>
<p>Charlie turned back to the window and looked at Bee.  “If you’re looking for absolution, you’ve come to the wrong person,” she said.</p>
<p>“I wasn’t-“</p>
<p>“What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>Charlie and Strongarm both turned towards the sound of Windblade’s voice, and Charlie felt nothing but relief to see her standing there.</p>
<p>“I just wanted to see the Lieutenant,” Strongarm said.</p>
<p>“You can see him when he’s back on duty,” Windblade said.  “Unless Optimus decides you’re more useful scrubbing out the engine nozzles on the ark.”</p>
<p>“Windblade,” Charlie said, “go easy.”</p>
<p>“Go easy?  She got Smokescreen hurt and nearly got Bee killed.”</p>
<p>“She’s young.  Young people make mistakes,” Charlie said, not sure why she was defending Strongarm.</p>
<p>Strongarm looked back and forth between Windblade and Charlie, and Charlie could see the confusion on her face, like she couldn’t understand what was happening.  And maybe she couldn’t, if what she said next was anything to go by.</p>
<p>“Why are you defending me?” Strongarm asked.</p>
<p>Charlie turned away from her and found the answer to that question laying on the table on the other side of the glass.  “Because Bee would forgive you.  He’d say something sweet and kind about how everybody makes mistakes, and how everyone deserves a second chance, and how you’ll do better next time.”</p>
<p>“You really think so?” Strongarm asked.</p>
<p>“That does sound like Bee,” Windblade said.  “Too nice for his own good.”</p>
<p>“When he’s not tearing a Decepticon to pieces using a chain, or shoving his sword through their wires,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>Windblade laughed.  “That sounds like Bee too.”</p>
<p>Charlie turned to Strongarm.  “I don’t want to be mad at you.  I spend every day worrying that my husband is going to go out on a mission and not come back because some Decepticon gets lucky, and that is exhausting.  I don’t have the energy to worry about you doing something stupid in the field to try to impress him because he hasn’t noticed you waving your aft at him the last few months.  If you really want to make up for what you did, start thinking with your brain module instead of your interface array, stop trying to impress him, and start learning from him.”</p>
<p>“Yes ma’am,” Strongarm said, a small crack in her voice.  Charlie felt a little guilty, because Strongarm honestly looked like she was on the verge of tears, but she hadn’t said anything that didn’t need saying.</p>
<p>“I think I’ll go now, if that’s okay,” Strongarm said.</p>
<p>“You don’t have too,” Charlie said.  “If you’d like to stay for a while…”</p>
<p>“No, thank you.  You’re right.  I have a lot to think about and being here will get in the way of that.  But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry, ma’am.  I never meant to be disrespectful of your and the Lieutenant’s spark bond.  I just…  I feel things around him, and it’s hard to know how to deal with that.”</p>
<p>Charlie felt another twinge of guilt at the reminder of just how young Strongarm was.  Not even a year past her online date.  It hadn’t really occurred to her that Strongarm might not have been doing it on purpose, but now that she knew, it cast a lot of the things Charlie had been angry about in a different light and made her anger disappear.  It also made her want to help, and she could think of one way to do that.</p>
<p>“Go talk to Arcee,” Charlie said.  “She used to be a schoolteacher back before the war.  She might be a bit rusty, but you wouldn’t be the first bot she’s helped deal with things like this.”</p>
<p>“I will,” Strongarm said.  “Thank you.”</p>
<p>Charlie watched as Strongarm left, then turned to Windblade.</p>
<p>“You’re back sooner than I expected.”</p>
<p>“Sooner than I expected too,” Windblade said.  “I don’t know.  When I was here, I felt like I was climbing the walls, and all I wanted was to fly, but the moment I got a bit of wind beneath my wings, all I wanted was to be here with you and Bee.”  She stepped up to the glass and rested a servo on it.  “I hate seeing him like this.  He’s always so alive and vibrant.  Seeing him in stasis lock just feels wrong.”</p>
<p>“I know,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“That was a nice thing you did,” Windblade said.  “I’m not sure I could have forgiven her that easily.”</p>
<p>“It’s something Bee taught me back when we first met,” Charlie said.  “If all you do is live in the past, you miss all the amazing things right in front of you.”  Charlie turned to Windblade.  “I’ve got some pretty amazing things in my life right now, and I don’t want to miss them because I’m too busy holding a grudge.”</p>
<p>Windblade smiled at her, and Charlie couldn’t help but notice a faint blue glow seeping out of the seems in her face plate.</p>
<hr/>
<p>“It’s almost time,” Lifeline said.  “I want to make sure you’re prepared for what you’ll see.  The transplant procedure itself is simple.  We will insert a device called a spark cradle to Bumblebee’s spark chamber.  Once activated, we will withdraw it, and his spark will be pulled out of his current frame along with the spark cradle.  We will then insert the spark cradle into the new frame’s spark chamber, deactivate and remove the cradle, and at that point, the transplant will be complete, and the new frame will support his spark.  The entire process should take less then five cycles.  Once complete, we would secure all tools in the room in a locked, armored cabinet, and remove the old frame, then we will step outside, and lock the operating theater before remotely activating Bumblebee’s boot cycle.”</p>
<p>“Why are you leaving him alone during boot up?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“Because the last thing he was feeling when he went into stasis lock was most likely fear,” Ratchet said, interrupting Lifeline before she could say anything.  Ratchet walked over to the window.  “When we uploaded his memories, we loaded them into archival storage within the new frame.  Sort of internal backup memories.  We can’t load them into active memory until he comes online, but since the last thing he felt before falling into statis is fear, he will wake up terrified.  We’ve found that in situations like this, it is best the subject wake up alone.  I won’t lie, it will be hard on him, but if there’s another bot in there with him, he might hurt them, or himself.”</p>
<p>“No,” Charlie said.  “We’re not leaving him alone.  I’ll stay in the room with him.”</p>
<p>“With all do respect, Ms. Watson, that is a terrible idea.  I’ve seen patients wake up in this situation who have done damage to far larger bots then themselves, and no offense, but you’re just a human.”</p>
<p>“I’m a human who has been through this with be before,” Charlie said.  “When he woke up in my garage six years ago, he didn’t have any memories and he was terrified.  He didn’t hurt me then, and that was before we were spark bonded.  He won’t hurt me now.”</p>
<p>“That’s a lovely sentiment, Ms. Watson, but-“</p>
<p>“But it’s happening.  Get used to it,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“She’s right,” Windblade said.  “Bee won’t hurt her.”</p>
<p>“Are you willing to risk her life on that?” Ratchet asked.</p>
<p>Charlie glanced up at Windblade, but Windblade just stared at Ratchet.  “There’s no risk.  I’ve known Bumblebee since before the war, and I can tell you, he won’t hurt her.”</p>
<p>“Fine,” Ratchet said.  “Have it your way.  I just hope I don’t have to clean up Ms. Watson’s remains.”</p>
<p>Ratchet turned and walked away from the window, and Lifeline followed him.  Charlie and Windblade watched as they packed up most of their equipment, then Ratchet took out what had to be the Spark Cradle.  The transplant went as quickly as Lifeline had said.  Ratchet inserted the cradle into Bee’s spark chamber, pulled it out, and inserted it into his new spark chamber.  It was over in less than a minute, and then they disconnected Bee’s old frame from the various bits of life support equipment, disconnected the cortical psychic patch cable from the back of Bee’s new head, packed up the rest of the equipment, covered Bee’s old frame with an enormous sheet, and wheeled it towards the door.</p>
<p>“Ms. Watson, if you’re still determined to risk your life for no reason, you should come into the operating theater now.”</p>
<p>Charlie got up and used the door separating the observation room from the operating theater.  She took the stairs down from the catwalk that was designed for human observation, and once she was on the floor, she couldn’t see Bee, but Ratchet seemed to have anticipated that problem.  While Lifeline wheeled Bee’s old frame out of the room, Ratchet walked over to a control panel and entered a command.  The bed sank down until it was flush with the floor.  Then Ratchet turned to look at her.</p>
<p>“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, Ms. Watson?  I know that Bumblebee is your Conjunx, and that you must care deeply for each other to even be able to form that kind of connection, but he will not remember you until his memories are loaded into his active memory from his archives.  Given his age, that process could take ten to fifteen of your minutes, and if Bumblebee perceives you as a danger, he may take action to defend himself.  I do understand your desire to spare him the pain of waking up alone, but please keep in mind that he will endure far more pain if he were to hurt you by accident.”</p>
<p>“I know you mean well, Ratchet, but I’ve been through this with him before, and Bee wouldn’t even fight back against people who were actively trying to kill him.  The only time he fought was when someone hurt me.  I’m not afraid.”</p>
<p>“Very well,” Ratchet said.  “I’ll be in the observation room with Windblade.  If he does become violent, we will do our best to intervein before he hurts you.”</p>
<p>“Thank you,” Charlie said.  “And thank you for saving his life.”</p>
<p>Ratchet nodded and stepped through the Cybertronian sized door into the observation area.  Once the door was closed, Charlie sat down on the ground next to Bee and waited.</p>
<p>“I’m activating the boot cycle now,” Ratchet said over the intercom.  Charlie nodded her head.  A moment later she heard the same high-pitched whine that she’d heard the night she’d first met Bee.  It lasted for just a minute as his eyes lit up then died away.  The sounds of transformation filled the room as Bee’s spark chamber closed up and he climbed to his feet.  He looked around for a moment before he noticed her, but as soon as he did, he jumped back, and Charlie could see the fear in his eyes, the same as when he’d curled up into a corner in her garage.  That seemed to be Bee’s go too defensive strategy, because be backed into the corner and sat down, wrapping his arms protectively around himself.</p>
<p>“It’s okay,” Charlie said.  She got to her feet.  “I won’t hurt you.”</p>
<p>“Who are you?” Bee asked.</p>
<p>“I’m Charlie.  Charlie Watson.  I know you don’t remember me right now, but I’m your friend.”</p>
<p>“Why don’t I remember?” Bee asked.</p>
<p>“You were hurt,” Charlie said.  “The doctors that took care of you had to do something that made you forget, just for a little while.  You should remember everything in just a few cycles.”</p>
<p>Bee stared at her.  She could feel the fear coming from him as he tightened his arms around himself, and it hurt to know he was so afraid.  She opened the bond as wide as she could and let herself think of all the happy moments they’d had together.  The night Bee confessed that he loved her, the pride in Bee’s voice any time he introduced her as his Conjunx, the way she felt when he held her in his arms at night.  She let the love she felt for him fill her, let it spill down the link between them, and she saw his eyes open wider.</p>
<p>“You feel that?” she asked.</p>
<p>Bee nodded.  “What is it?”</p>
<p>“That’s me,” Charlie said.  She placed a hand on her chest.  “I said I’m your friend, and I am, but I’m more than that.  I’m your Conjunx Endura, your spark mate.”</p>
<p>“Spark mate?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Charlie said.  “You and I, we care about each other a lot.  So much, in fact, that we mingled our sparks, our life force, so that we’d always be connected to each other.  What you’re feeling right now, that’s how I feel about you.”</p>
<p>Bee relaxed a little bit as he lifted a hand up to his chest just above the spark chamber.</p>
<p>“Can I come closer?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>Bee nodded, and she smiled because she didn’t feel any hesitation from him.  She walked over to him, and with a gentle tug, she pulled his left arm out of the way, and climbed up between his legs and his chest.  She reached out carefully, holding her hands up in front of his face.  Bee leaned forward, his eyes closing as he pressed his face against her hands, and Charlie felt love surge through her, but this time, it was coming from Bee.  He reached up and wrapped an arm around her.</p>
<p>“This feels familiar,” he said.</p>
<p>“We did this the night we first met,” Charlie said.  “You’d been hurt then too, and you were scared, but I promised I wouldn’t hurt you, and I held up my hands to show you.  You leaned down and pressed your face into my hands.  It was one of the most amazing moments of my life.”</p>
<p>“It sounds like I get hurt a lot,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“More than I like,” Charlie said as she rubbed her thumb over Bee’s cheek.  “You’re a soldier.  Honestly, most days, I wish to God you were a mail man, or a pizza delivery boy, or anything else besides a stupid, wonderful, insanely brave soldier.”</p>
<p>Bee smiled and set up a little straighter.  “I’m brave, huh?”</p>
<p>“Very,” Charlie said.  “Brave, kind, smart, fierce, and beautiful in every way.”</p>
<p>“I wish I could remember,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“Soon, love,” Charlie said.  “Your memories are already loading.”</p>
<p>“Where are we?”</p>
<p>“This is a part of our home.  We live on a military base with other Autobots.  That’s the army you’re part of, though they are more of a family at this point.  This is the medical wing.  You and I share a room in the barracks.  Your friends Windblade and Ratchet are in the next room.”</p>
<p>“They are?”</p>
<p>“Yeah.  They didn’t want you to get overwhelmed when you first woke up.  I can go get them if you like.”</p>
<p>Bee’s hold on her tightened slightly.  “Don’t leave me,” he said.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Charlie said.  She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek.  “We’ll just sit here while your memories come back.”</p>
<p>“Thank you.”</p>
<p>Charlie slimed and rubbed her thumb over Bee’s cheek again.  “I’m just glad you’re okay.”</p>
<p>Bee leaned into her touch.  “How did I get hurt?”</p>
<p>“Being a hero,” Charlie said.  “You’re a team leader, and one of your team members was getting shot at.  You pushed her out of the way, but you got hit by enemy fire in the process.”</p>
<p>“Is she okay?”</p>
<p>“A little shook up, but she’ll be fine.”  Charlie leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Bee’s neck and resting her forehead against Bee’s just under the Autobot emblem on his helm.  “You scared me though.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“It’s okay.  You’re here, you’re safe.  I love you.”</p>
<p>Bee squeezed her a little tighter, but she didn’t mind.  Neither of them said anything else.  They just stayed there, Bee holding Charlie and Charlie holding Bee, while Charlie let the love and comfort and safety she felt in Bee’s arms pour through their bond, so Bee could feel it too.  Silence filled the room, but it was a comfortable silence for both of them.  Charlie had Bee in her arms, and she could feel that her presence made Bee feel calm and safe.</p>
<p>She felt the moment his memories finished loading.  He went from calm and safe to overwhelmed in a split second.  Confusion, joy, terror, love, grief, fear, rage.  Emotion after emotion came through one after the other with battering force, like waves in a rough sea, and all Charlie could to was hold on, push her love through the bond and try to ride it out with him.</p>
<p>The storm ended almost as suddenly as it started and was replaced with happiness, warmth and love.  Charlie opened her eyes, not even really sure when she closed them, and found herself staring into big, adoring blue eyes.</p>
<p>“You’re here,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“Where else would I be?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>Bee smiled for a moment, then frowned and lifted a hand up to his face.  The frown deepened when he went to touch his mouth and found the grill there instead.</p>
<p>“What happened?” Bee asked.</p>
<p>“Spark transplant,” Charlie said.  “They had to move you into a protoform.”</p>
<p>“Oh,” Bee said, and Charlie could here the shock in his voice.  “That would explain some things.”</p>
<p>“Like what?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“My mods are missing,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“That’s because most of your mods were shoddy patch jobs to begin with,” Ratchet said over the intercom.</p>
<p>Bumblebee raised his hand and made what Charlie assumed was a rude gesture.  That assumption was confirmed a moment later.</p>
<p>“Don’t think just because you have a shiny new protoform under your armor I can’t still take you about with my bare servos you smug little brat.”</p>
<p>“I’ll just go get Wheeljack to reinstall my mods,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“You most certainly will not.  You will give me a complete list of what mods you require, and I will have Wheeljack and Brainstorm build them, and then have Perceptor inspect them, before I install them.”</p>
<p>“Ratchet…” Bee whined.</p>
<p>“I’m with Ratchet on this,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“Me too,” Windblade added over the intercom.</p>
<p>“Windblade, is that you?”  Bee asked.</p>
<p>“The one and only,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“Why don’t you scan your new outfit, and then you, me and Windblade can get out of here,” Charlie said, nodding towards the souped-up Camaro sitting on the other side of the room.</p>
<p>“I got a better idea,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“Oh?”</p>
<p>“Close your eyes.”</p>
<p>“Bee…”</p>
<p>“Close your eyes, Charlie.”</p>
<p>“Fine,” Charlie said.  She closed her eyes, and as soon as she did, she heard the sounds of transformation.  Then, a moment later, she felt a pair of warm lips touch hers.  She opened her eyes to find Bee kissing with a mouth he hadn’t had a moment before, and she kissed him back, enthusiastically.</p>
<p>“If you two do anything more than kiss, I’ll make you disinfect my operating room before you leave,” Ratchet grumbled.</p>
<p>Bee rolled his eyes as he sat Charlie on the ground.  Then he stood up and looked down at her.</p>
<p>“Want to see something cool?”</p>
<p>“Sure,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>Bee smiled at her, then fell forward into his transformation, but instead of the VW Bug she loved so much, or one of the big muscle cars Bee seemed to favor, she found herself looking at what had to be his cybertronian form.  It was a sleek car which sat low to the ground.  It lacked any kind of passenger compartment but had two guns on top and what looked like a canon in the nose.  It was gorgeous, and it fit Bee like a glove.</p>
<p>“You like it?”</p>
<p>“Hell, yeah,” Charlie said.  “It’s sexy.”</p>
<p>Bee laughed.  “Thanks.  I wish I could keep it, but it sticks out around here.”  He began transforming again, but not into his robot form.  Instead, when all the parts and panels were done moving, the Camaro they’d brought in for him to scan sat in front of her.</p>
<p>“How does it fit?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“Okay, I guess,” Bee said.  “My plates itch a bit, but that’s not that strange after you take a new form for the first time.”  He transformed again and looked himself over.  “Good as new.”</p>
<p>“Better,” Ratchet said as he and Windblade walked into the room.  “You went from a Mark seven twenty-eight civilian courier frame to a Mark nine eight nine four three military scout frame.  You should be stronger, faster, and more durable than before.  Take some time to get used to the frame.  Come up with a list of mods you want, and we’ll go over armament options tomorrow.”</p>
<p>Bee transformed back into his bot mode.  “I’m not armed?”</p>
<p>“Not at the moment,” Ratchet said.  “Which reminds me.  I had everything in your subspace compartments crated up and put in storage.  It will take Wheeljack, Brainstorm and Perceptor a couple of days to replicate your original subspace generator.”</p>
<p>“You have a custom subspace generator?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah.  It’s a class seven.”  Bee turned to Charlie.  “Pretty cool, huh?  Optimus only has a class five.”</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Charlie said.  “Cool.”  She had no idea what the difference between a class five and a class seven subspace generator was, but then, all she really knew about subspace was that Cybertronians had a private pocket dimension where they could store things.</p>
<p>She reached up and grabbed one of his digits in her hand and gave it a small tug.  “Come on.  You can brag about your upgrades later.”</p>
<p>Bee let out a dramatic ex-vent and looked at Ratchet and Arcee.  “You see what I have to put up with?”</p>
<p>“You love it,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“I do,” Bee agreed as he followed Charlie towards the door.  Windblade fell in behind him.  Charlie led them out into the hall, and the moment the door closed behind them, Bee leaned down and scooped Charlie into his arms, hugging her against his chest and doing a little spin.  He let go of her with one hand and wrapped it around Windblade’s waist, lifting her off the ground too as he did another spin.  Charlie couldn’t help but laugh, and neither could Windblade.</p>
<p>“You’re in a good mood,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“I’m alive,” Bee said, and Charlie could feel the relief and joy flooding through him.  “When I took that hit from Dreadwing, I thought I was done.  I was so scared.  I didn’t want to die, and then I woke up and I couldn’t remember anything, but you were there, and then it all came back, and I’m alive, and I’ve got you and I’ve got Windblade, and I just don’t want to let either of you go until I’m sure this is real, that I lived, and this isn’t the Well of Allsparks showing me what will make me happy.”</p>
<p>“Why don’t we had back to our quarters,” Charlie said.  “Windblade can come with us, and we can just take some time and relax.”</p>
<p>Bee frowned.  “I should probably check in with Optimus and my team,” he said.</p>
<p>“Ratchet will let them know you’re up and around,” Charlie said.  “But you know you’re on medical standdown until you get new weapons and upgrades fitted.  Windblade’s on standdown for the next couple of days too, and you need time.  So, back to our quarters.”</p>
<p>“You heard her, Bee,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“Alright,” he said.  “I’m not going to argue.”</p>
<hr/>
<p>Bee did end up having to let Windblade go so they could walk, but he carried Charlie the whole way back to their quarters.  It took longer than Bee would have liked to get there, but he couldn’t bring himself to mind too much.  The delay was entirely because of how many people stopped them to tell him how glad they were that he was back on his feet, and it always made him happy to be reminded of how many friends he had on the base.  He was just relieved that they didn’t run into Strongarm along the way, because that was not going to be a quick conversation, and all he really wanted to do was spend some time with Charlie and Windblade.</p>
<p>When they finally did make it to the door of their quarters, Bee felt a little conflicted over whether or not to invite Windblade in.  He wanted to spend time with her, he almost always wanted to spend time with her, but at the same time, he wanted to spend time with Charlie doing things that Windblade probably wouldn’t want to watch them doing.  Before he could decide either way, Charlie made the choice for them.</p>
<p>“Windblade, why don’t you come in with us,” Charlie said, putting a small, nervous smile on Windblade;s face.  That didn’t make a lot of sense to Bee.  He didn’t understand why she would be nervous about being asked into their quarters.  After all, she spent a lot of time there with them.</p>
<p>“Okay,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Bee punched in the security code for the door and stepped inside the room.  Windblade followed them inside.  He heard the sound of the door sliding shut, and then he felt Windblade’s servo run down his back strut.  He nearly staggered under the wave of arousal that flooded through him.  He might be in a new body, but his spark remembered what had always followed a touch like that.  His modesty plates twitched, and for a moment, all he could think of was being bent over his recharge shelf, Windblade on his back, her spike filling his valve as her servos pulled his antenna.  He bit his lower Derma, trying to force down his desire, but he could already feel Charlie responding to it.  He looked down at her and she smiled up at him, amusement pouring through her end of the bond.</p>
<p>He turned and looked at Windblade and he couldn’t tell if she realized what she’d done.  He didn’t think so.  She’d always been careful about not overstepping with regards to his and Charlie’s relationship, but sometimes the little touches he still got from her left him confused.  Before he could say anything, Charlie spoke up.</p>
<p>“Let’s sit on the bed,” she said.  He glanced down at her for a moment, and she was still smiling, even though he knew she had to be able to feel what was going on inside of him.  He decided not to argue, and instead sat her carefully on the recharge shelf before sitting down himself.  Windblade folded in her wings and sat down as well.  There was plenty of room.  The Autobots used a standard layout when building barracks, so the shelf was big enough for a bot Jetfire’s size.  There was more than enough room for the three of them, and probably another five or six bots besides.</p>
<p>“We should talk,” Charlie said, stating the obvious.  Something was going on, and Bee didn’t have a clue what it was.  He felt a small knot of dread settle into his stomach, wondering if Charlie was going to tell him she’d had enough.  That seeing him get hurt so badly the day before was finally enough to make her realize just what she’d gotten herself into and send her running for the deeps.</p>
<p>Charlie must have felt his fear through the bond, because a moment later, a way of love and reassurance came through.  Charlie climbed up into his lap, only instead of settling there with her back pressed against his front, she sat facing him, and reached out, resting one of her servos over his spark chamber.</p>
<p>“It’s nothing bad, Bee,” she said.  “In fact, if things go the way I hope they do, I think you’ll be really happy.”</p>
<p>“Okay,” Bee said.  “Now you’ve got me curious.”  Which was a bit of an understatement, but at least her reassurance stopped the building panic at the idea that Charlie might be leaving him.  He loved their life together, and after so many eons of war, even their worst days felt like a vacation from the horror of most of his life, but he knew that she struggled sometimes with the day-to-day reality of being a soldier’s wife and caught up in the middle of a war.  The fear that one day, she would finally have enough was something that reared its head any time he came back from a mission wounded, or when things got really tense in the struggle.  She always reassured him that she was in it for the long haul, but some insecurities were hard to get past.</p>
<p>“We almost lost you yesterday, Bee,” Charlie said.  He could feel her pain through the bound and he reached out, wrapping a servo around her and rubbing her back.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” he said.</p>
<p>“I know.  It’s just, it was scary, seeing you like that.  When you dropped into stasis lock the shock of it knocked me out.  When I woke up, I could barely feel you, and the worst part was, they weren’t sure they would be able to transfer your memories over to the new protoform because of the damage to your memory cells back when you first arrived on Earth.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Bee said again.  He hadn’t realized things had been that bad.  Of course, the fact that they’d sacrificed a precious new protoform to get him back online should have told him things were a lot worse than even a breached spark chamber might suggest.</p>
<p>“I know, and I’m not mad at you, or blaming you, I just need you to understand what I’m about to tell you.  Last night, Windblade and I were both hurting, and when it came time to go to bed, I didn’t want to be alone.  I wanted someone to hold me last night, and I thought that Windblade was the one bot on base you wouldn’t mind doing it, so I asked her to stay.”</p>
<p>There were other bots he would have trusted to stay with her, Arcee, Bulkhead, Jazz, Hot Rod, but he was glad it was Windblade, because he knew she would give her spark before she let anything happen to Charlie.</p>
<p>“She held me while I slept, but you know how I get after a hard day.  How much I crave our connection.  I did get that before I slept, and I woke up in the middle of the night, the way I do.”</p>
<p>Bee stared at Charlie for a moment as he processed what she was saying.  Usually, if Charlie woke up in the middle of the night, Bee didn’t get in much recharge time.  Not that he was complaining.   Being shaken out of recharge because Charlie wanted to interface was actually one of his favorite things.  But what she was saying was that she’d woken up like that next to Windblade.  Bee was fully aware of the fact that usually when Charlie woke up horny, she wasn’t entirely awake before she was shaking him out of recharge and asking for things that would have made him blush once.  The idea of Charlie waking up and begging Windblade to spike her brought a whole mix of emotions.  A little jealousy, a little amusement, and a whole lot of arousal.</p>
<p>When they had first gotten together, Bee had been honest with Charlie about his past.  He’d tried his best not to rub the fact that he was still attracted to Windblade in Charlie’s face, but Charlie had figured out he still had feelings for his friend, and things had taken a bit of a strange turn.  He’d expected Charlie to be jealous, and at first, she was, but she had eventually admitted that she was attracted to Windblade too, and it had turned into one of their fantasies.  But it had always just been a fantasy.  Charlie had asked a couple of times if he wanted to make it a reality, to invite Windblade to interface with them, but he’d always said no.  Not because he didn’t want to, but because he knew how confusing it would get interfacing with someone you were in love with when they didn’t love you back.</p>
<p>“That must have been awkward,” he said, wondering where exactly this conversation was going.  She’d said she thought he’d be happy, so he was sure he wasn’t about to hear that his Conjunx had cheated on him with his best friend.</p>
<p>“Waking up dry humping your husband’s best friend who is also your best friend and your husband’s ex-girlfriend?  No.  Not awkward at all.”</p>
<p>“I was just confused at first,” Windblade said.  “She kept calling me Bee, and I couldn’t figure out how she was mistaking me for you.  But once she explained the way humans boot up from recharge, it made more sense.”</p>
<p>“Once we got over the awkwardness, we started talking about things.  You, spark bonds, Amica and Conjunx.”  Charlie looked up at Windblade.  “Do you want to tell him?”</p>
<p>Windblade shook her head.  “I don’t think I can.”</p>
<p>“Tell me what?” Bee asked.  “Windblade, we’ve been friends for eons.  You can tell me anything.”</p>
<p>Windblade just shook her head.</p>
<p>“She was telling me how important Amica are on Caminus, and how City Speakers aren’t allowed to have them, or to have a Conjunx, and it made me realize that neither of you have been honest with each other,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“What?” Bee and Windblade both asked.  Bee glanced over at Windblade, wondering what she could possibly be keeping from him.</p>
<p>“She told me she wanted to ask you to be her Amica Endura the night she met you.  That she didn’t because she was afraid you’d think she was crazy, because that isn’t something you normally ask someone you just met.”</p>
<p>Bee turned and looked at Windblade.</p>
<p>“Really?” he asked, feeling a bit like he’d just taken a null ray blast to the midsection.  It couldn’t be true, could it?</p>
<p>Windblade nodded, and it felt like another null ray blast.  It wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but the thought of being spark bonded to Windblade, even if it was only as an Amica, was overwhelming.</p>
<p>“I would have said yes,” Bee whispered.</p>
<p>“You would have?” Windblade asked.</p>
<p>Bee looked at Windblade, belatedly realizing he’d said that out loud.  He hadn’t meant to, but he wouldn’t take it back.  It was true.</p>
<p>“Yeah,” Bee said.  He could see the disbelief in Windblade’s eyes, and it hurt, just a little.  After all this time, how could she doubt him that way.</p>
<p>“Tell her all of it, Bee.”</p>
<p>Bee looked down at Charlie.  He could feel the buzz of energon behind his faceplates, and knew he must have been blushing like mad, but maybe it was best he come clean, because it sounded like Charlie was right.  That he and Windblade hadn’t been honest with each other.</p>
<p>“I would have…  I mean, if you’d asked…  Oh, Primus, this sounds pathetic, but if you’d asked me to be your Conjunx that night, or honestly, any night before I came to Earth, I would have.”</p>
<p>“No,” Windblade said.  She closed her eyes and shook her head.  “No.  You can’t mean that.”</p>
<p>Bee felt as if someone were crushing his spark.  He heard the doubt and the disbelief in Windblade’s tone, and he wondered if Charlie had pushed things too far.  It was one thing for her to want him to be her Amica, but a Conjunx was a whole different animal.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry,” Bee said.</p>
<p>Windblade looked up at him.  “What for?”</p>
<p>“I just…  Primus, Windblade, I never wanted to be like all those slag piles who kept hitting on you just because you’re a City Speaker.  I swear that’s not why I would have said yes.  I didn’t care if you were a City Speaker.  I just…  That night in Maccadams after the cube match where we met.  It was like someone saw me for the first time in my life.  Not the Cold Constructed Courier without a real name.  You saw me.  You treated me like any other bot.  You were kind and funny, and you laughed at my jokes, and you made me feel like I mattered beyond my function.  I felt like I’d been waiting my whole life for you.  I know you don’t feel that way about me-”</p>
<p>“No!” Windblade said.  “No, you don’t understand.  I do feel that way.  I have for a long time.  Since before the war.”</p>
<p>“No,” Bee said.  “That’s not possible.  I felt you spark every time we interfaced.  You don’t-“</p>
<p>“I blocked it out.  I was afraid you wouldn’t want me like that, so when we interfaced, I used my City Speaker training, and I walled off that part of myself.”</p>
<p>“But you could feel what I felt for you,” Bee said.</p>
<p>Windblade shook her head.  “No.  I didn’t feel anything like that.  I don’t know why.”</p>
<p>“Maybe when you walled those feelings off in yourself, it kept you from feeling them in Bee,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>Windblade looked down at her for a moment.  “Maybe,” she said.  She closed her eyes and hung her head.  “Primus, I threw it all away, didn’t I?”</p>
<p>Bee reached over and covered her servo with his.  “No.  This is on both of us.  Charlie is right.  Neither of us was honest.”</p>
<p>He looked down at Charlie, trying to figure out why she had dragged all of this out in the open.  It had been easier, not knowing.  He loved Charlie deeply, and he had never and would never, even for a second, regret spark bonding with her.  She was a part of him, and every moment they were together made him happy.  But Windblade was a part of him too, if not quite as literally as Charlie was.  He and Windblade had known each other for so long he could barely imagine a life without her.  He didn’t want to.  Knowing that they had missed their chance to be more to each other, to have what they both wanted, felt like having his spark chamber breached all over again.</p>
<p>Charlie reached out and rested her hand over his spark chamber and opened their connecting as wide as it could go without her actually touching his spark.  What he felt from her confused him.  There was no jealousy or grief, no pain, just sympathy and hope.</p>
<p>“It’s not too late for the two of you to be together,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“But you two are spark bonded,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“She’s right,” Bee said.  “A spark bond can’t be broken, and honestly, even if it could, I wouldn’t want it to be.  I love you, and I don’t want to let you go.”</p>
<p>“I don’t want to let you go either and that’s not what I’m suggesting.  You know I love you Bee, but you’ve felt my soul.  You know I love Windblade too.  This is hurting both of you.  I know you love me Bee, but I also know how much you love Windblade, and after last night, I know she loves you, and I think…  I think she loves me too.”</p>
<p>Bee turned and looked at Windblade, who nodded her head.  “I do,” she said.  “I love both of you.”</p>
<p>Bee turned back to Charlie.  “What happened last night?” he asked, now more confused than ever.</p>
<p>“She wanted to be sure I knew she was telling the truth, so she let me touch her spark, and it nearly created a spark bond to both of us.  I pulled my hand away before the bond could form because I couldn’t make that decision for you, and because I owed it to you to make sure you were okay with me forming a spark bond with someone else.  But Bee, the point is, she wants to be with us both so much she almost formed the bond by accident.</p>
<p>“Love, what I’m saying, to both of you, is that you don’t need to hurt anymore.  You two love each other, and you want to be together.  You and I love each other, and we want to be together.  And Windblade, and I love each other.  All three of us want to be together, and I don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t be.”</p>
<p>“A three-way spark bond?” Bee asked.  It was something he hadn’t really considered before, but then, he’d never believed that Windblade would want to bond with him, and Windblade and Charlie were the only bots he’d ever considered bonding with, so maybe that wasn’t such a surprise.</p>
<p>“Is there any reason we can’t?” Charlie asked.</p>
<p>“No,” Bee said.  Three-way bonds weren’t the norm, but they were common enough.  In fact, among seekers, they were more the rule than the exception, given the trine structure among the seeker ranks.  He turned and looked at Windblade.  “Is this…  Would you…  Is this something you would want?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Windblade said.  Most people might not have been able to tell how close to breaking down Windblade was, but Bee had eons of experience interpreting her modes and emotions.  The facial markings and the persona with hid so much of who she was didn’t fool be for a moment.  He could practically feel how overwhelmed she was.  He squeezed her servo with his own, giving her a point of physical connection to hold on to, because he was pretty close to feeling overwhelmed himself.  He turned back to look at Charlie, because he had to be sure before this went any further.</p>
<p>“What about you?  Is this what you want?  What you really want?  Not just to make me happy?”</p>
<p>Charlie smiled and raised her hand, holding it over Bee’s spark chamber, waiting.  Bee took the hint, and opened his spark chamber, and Charlie rested her hand on his spark.  The walls between them didn’t entirely fall away, but they thinned to the point where Bee could feel everything Charlie was feeling and hear everything she was thinking.  Charlie pulled up her memory of the moment she’d touched Windblade’s spark the night before and let him feel the love and the joy she had felt, and how hard it had been to pull her spark away before the spark bond formed.  How she had wanted to reach back in and touch Windblade’s spark again and not let go until the bond was formed.  Then she showed him things she’d never shown him before.  She let him feel the fear she felt for what would happen to him after she was gone, and the fear of what would happen to her if he died on a mission.  She didn’t hold anything back, showing him all the reasons that she wanted to add Windblade to their bond.  Everything from raw, naked lust, to the comfort she felt when the three of them were together, to the desire to not leave him alone when time inevitably took her from him, to the need to sooth the pain they all felt at the separation between them.  It was a mixture of overwhelming emotion and practical consideration that was so very, very Charlie, and it erased any doubt Bee had that she was doing this for the wrong reasons.</p>
<p>She smiled up at him as she lifted her hand away.  He slid his chest panels slid back into place and reached out </p>
<p>“I love you,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“I love you too,” Charlie said.  “Now, kiss the girl.”</p>
<p>Bee smiled at her and turned to Windblade.  “Can I?”</p>
<p>Windblade’s answer was a bit more direct that Bee expected.  She reached up and caught him by the back of the head and pulled him into a kiss.  He was a little surprised at how sloppy and unpracticed it was, almost like she’d never kissed anyone before.  Bee let go of Charlie and reached up, cupping Windblade’s face in both his hands and taking control of the kiss.  It was a little different than kissing Charlie, but once he got Windblade to slow down, it didn’t take long for them to find a rhythm that worked for them.</p>
<p>Bee slid one of his servos down, caressing her neck.  She moaned as her exhaust fans kicked in, and Bee felt a flood of arousal come through his spark bond with Charlie.  Charlie was getting off on watching him and Windblade together.</p>
<p>Before he could give that any more thought, he felt Windblade’s servos on him, her digits finding their way under his plates to the sensitive places that had his exhaust fans kicking in.  He let his hand slip down, finding one of her transformation seems and running a digit along it until she shuddered.  He broke the kiss and worked his intake down to her neck, nipping and licking at the cables there, pulling another moan out of her.</p>
<p>“Primus,” she whispered.  “You’ve gotten better at this.”</p>
<p>Bee pulled her closer, and after a quick check to make sure they wouldn’t land on Charlie, he pushed Windblade down on the recharge shelf and lowered himself on top of her.  She reached up, grabbing his hips with her servos as she opened her legs.</p>
<p>“Spike me,” Windblade pleaded as the room filled with the sound of her modesty panels opening.</p>
<p>“Not yet,” Bee said as he trailed his intake down, kissing his way along the edges of her plates and along her transformation seams.  He stopped and lingered for a moment, planting kiss after kiss on her chest plates, just above her spark chamber.  Each time, he could feel her spark calling to his, pulling at him.  It was something he’d never felt from her before, and it was amazing.  He could have stayed there for megacycles, but Windblade’s whimpers urged him on, and he worked his way down until he reached her spike.</p>
<p>He wrapped a servo around it and stroked it slowly, pulling another moan out of Windblade as he thought of all the times she’d done this for him, and how he’d wanted so much to return the favor.  Then, he hadn’t been able to because he didn’t have a proper mouth, but now things were different.  He used his servo to tilt her spike back, and ran his glossa up the underside of it, starting the same way she always had.</p>
<p>He felt a massive surge of arousal pour through the bound and he glanced over at Charlie.  She was naked and sprawled out on her blankets with a pillow under her helm, and both of her servos between her legs.  She had two digits from one servo inside her front valve, while two digits from her other servo were rubbing her exterior node.</p>
<p>An impatient whimper from Windblade drew his attention back to what he was supposed to be doing, and he made up for his momentary distraction by nipped at the underside of her spike with his dentas.  She hissed and arched her back, but Bee didn’t let up.  He worked his way up to the tip with small kisses and licks and nips, making Windblade writhe under him until he wrapped his dermas around the head of her spike, and slowly took it in his mouth.</p>
<p>“Oh, sweet Solus Prime,” Windblade said.  Bee took it as encouragement to start working his intake up and down the shaft of her spike.  He sucked gently and used his glossa and dentas to lick and scrape along the surface, making Windblade writhe and whimper and claw and the pad on top of the recharge shelf.  Every time she moved of made a noise it made his modesty panels twitch, and all Bee could think was that he finally understood why she was so eager to do this for him.  The way she reacted was one of the hottest things he’d ever seen in his life, and it made him feel like a Prime that he was the one making her react that way.</p>
<p>He slipped his thumb down and find her external node, rubbing it in a slow circle as she sucked up.  The made Windblade arch her back and thrust into his mouth, and just a moment later, he felt her servos wrap around his antennas.  She pushed and pulled, using her grip to set the pace as she thrust into his mouth, and Bee loved it.  It made him feel wanted and desired and like he was so good he’d driver her to the point of losing control.  He could feel her need through her servos and the strength of her grip and her thrusts, and he could feel Charlie’s mirroring need pouring through the bond, and his own need when he finally gave in and opened his panels, letting his spike grind against the shelf and feeling the transfluid leaking out of his valve as Windblade spiked his mouth.</p>
<p>“I’m going to overload,” Windblade said, and Bee hummed in excitement.</p>
<p>“I’m going to overload,” she said, a little more force and urgency behind it, and Bee realized he was warning her, giving her a chance to pull away.  In all the time they’d been together, Windblade had never once pulled away, and Bee wasn’t going to do any less.  He sucked on her spike and ground his thumb into her external node just a little harder, which was enough to make her spill in his mouth and down his throat.  He kept sucking, doing his best not let any of her transfluid spill.</p>
<p>Windblade collapsed back onto the shelf, her exhaust fans running on full, and her servos falling away from his antennas.  He pulled back, letting her spike slip out of his intake.</p>
<p>“Primus, I knew that would be good, but I’d never imagined…” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“No one had ever done that for you?” Bee asked.</p>
<p>Windblade lifted her head and looked down at him.  “Bee, you’re the only lover I’ve ever had,” she said.</p>
<p>Bee sat up, as shocked by that revelation as he had been by the fact that she loved him.  “I…  I always thought there were others before me.”</p>
<p>Windblade shook her head.  “I never met anyone else I wanted.  Not until…”  She looked over at Charlie, who was laying there, watching them.</p>
<p>Charlie seemed to sense that Bee needed a minute, because she got up and walked over to them.  She climbed up onto Windblade and sat down just below her spike and started running her servos up and down the sides of the shaft.  Each time her hands touched one of the glowing blue spark rings, be could feel Windblade’s spark connect to Charlie and through his and Charlie’s spark bond, connect to him.</p>
<p>“You’re a bit longer than Bee,” Charlie said.  “Not as thick though.”</p>
<p>“I can be smaller if you need me to be,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Charlie shook her head and leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the tip of Windblade’s spike, causing the spark rings on her shaft to grow brighter.  “No,” Charlie said.  “Just ask Bee.  I like a challenge.”</p>
<p>Bee couldn’t help but laugh at that, remembering the months Charlie had spent working her way up to being able to take his spike at its normal size, instead of transformed down to something smaller.  He remembered how much she’d come to relish the pain each time they’d moved up to a larger size, and he could feel Charlie’s anticipation flowing through the spark bond, along with flashes of arousal from Windblade.</p>
<p>Charlie used her servos to press Windblade’s spike back against her chassis, then she straddled it, grinding her valve along the bottom of Windblade’s spike as she worked her way towards the tip.  He’d seen her do this so many times before, but never from this angle.  It had always been his spike she was riding before, but seeing her like this, working her way up Windblade’s spike was nearly enough to make him overload.  Especially since he could feel it through their bond.</p>
<p>Charlie reached Windblade’s tip and let out a moan Bee was familiar with.  He always heard it when she finally had the time of his spike pressed against her entrance, and the thought of what came next made his spike twitch in anticipation and need.  Charlie rolled her hips, and this time, it was Windblade’s turn to moan as Charlie took her in.  Just the tip at first, but she didn’t waste any time.  She just started rocking forward and back, taking a bit more of Windblade into her with each thrust until Windblade was sinking in up to her crotch plates.</p>
<p>“God,” Charlie moaned.  “You’re so big.”</p>
<p>Windblade bit her lower derma as she reached up and rested her servos on Charlie’s legs.  “You’re so tight,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Charlie leaned forward and rested a hand on Windblade’s chest plates, just above her spark chamber as she started to pick up the pace.  “Bee’s told me all about what it was like when the two of you were together.  The way you’d bend him over the recharge shelf and fuck him, the way you’d like him ride your spike, the way you’d just take whatever you wanted.  I loved hearing about it.  I loved imaging you fucking him.  Sometimes, while I’m working in the garage, I’d daydream about you coming in and just taking me while I’m bent over working on an engine.”</p>
<p>Windblade let out a whimper, and Bee wasn’t far behind.  Primus, Charlie could paint a picture when she wanted to.</p>
<p>“Now I’ve got you inside of me and it’s better than I dreamed, but you want more, don’t you?  You want Bee to fuck that wet valve of yours, don’t you?”</p>
<p>“Yes,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Bee didn’t need any more invitation than that.  He was already between Windblade’s legs, so it was easy to reach out and lift them up and rest them over his thigh guards.  Then he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close, positioning his spike at the entrance to her valve.  Before he had even pushed inside, Windblade lifted her legs and wrapped them around him, crossing her ankle guards in the small of his back.  Bee rocked his hips, burying his spike inside her down to the crotch plates in a single thrust.</p>
<p>“YES!” Windblade screamed.  “Primus, Bee.  Spike me.”</p>
<p>Bee did just that.  He pulled his hips back and thrust into her again and again, careful only to avoid crushing Charlie between as he filled Windblade’s valve and Charlie rode her spike.  Each thrust ground the spark rings on his spike and inside her valve together, connecting them, letting him feel what she felt and letting her feel what he felt.  It was different, feeling both of them, Charlie and Windblade, but he loved it.  He loved feeling the need coming from both of them, but more than that, he loved that he could feel the love coming from both of them.  Love for him, love for each other.</p>
<p>There was only one this that could make it better.</p>
<p>Bee opened his spark chamber, and once his plates were out of the way, he leaned forward, wrapping his left servo around Charlie and pressing her back against his front, letting his thrusts set the pace for both of them, using the feedback from their bond to make sure she was enjoying herself.  With his other servo, he reached out, holding it just above her spark chamber.</p>
<p>“Open for us,” he said.</p>
<p>Windblade looked him in the optics as she opened her spark chamber.  She lifted one servo off Charlie’s thigh and reached up, laying her servo on his spark just a moment before Charlie and Bee both lay a servo on hers.  Charlie closed the circuit a moment later by reaching up with her free hand and touching Bee’s spark.</p>
<p>The connection he felt to Charlie and Windblade opened up as their life forces crashed together and three became one.  The walls that separated them vanished.  There was no more Bumblebee and Charlie and Windblade, there was only them.  Their spike inside their valve.  Their other spike inside their vagina.  Filled and being filled.  Hands and servos touching sparks.  Soft flesh, warm living metal, blood and energon, pain and ecstasy, all together with no barriers between them as they soothed soul deep wounds in each other.  The part of them that was the cold constructed Scout who lived so long with a number instead of a name, the part of them that was the little girl who got buried under the wait of the City Speaker, and the part of them that was the Mechanic left alone in a crowd by the death of the one person who understood her and never asked her to be anything but who she was.  They felt connected.  They felt seen.  They felt at home and at peace.  They hoped it would last forever, up until the moment when they came and overloaded all at once.</p>
<p>Hands and servos reluctantly lifted away from sparks, and spark chambers slid closed, and one became three.  Bee lifted a spent, exhausted Charlie off Windblade’s spike and left her to rest on Windblade’s chest plates as he slid out of Windblade’s valve.  Modesty plates folded back into place as he picked up Charlie’s blanket.  He spread it across her, and then he lay down beside Windblade, slipping an arm around her and pulling her close as he rested a servo on Charlie.  He choked down the vents that kept his hand from overheating just a touch, so it got a little warmer than usual, so Charlie wouldn’t get cold.  Windblade curled into him, and Charlie reached out to rest a hand on his chest plate, right over his spark.</p>
<p>“I love you,” Bee said.  “Both of you.”</p>
<p>“I love you too,” Charlie and Windblade said.  Charlie turned, and looked up at Windblade.  “And you.  I love you.”</p>
<p>“I love you too, Charlie,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>Simple words, but it was all the needed with a spark bond in place.  They could feel the truth of the words, because the walls that settled between them were so thin they were barely there.  Bee knew that as the bond settled, there’d be a bit more separation, but he could already tell the bond would be stronger between the three of them than it was with just him and Charlie.</p>
<p>He closed his optics, happier than he could ever remember being.  The day before had been horrible, but what had come out of it was amazing, but he promised himself, the next time he wanted something, he was going to ask for it before someone shot him with a plasma canon.</p>
<p>“Damn right,” Charlie said.</p>
<p>“You heard that?” Bee asked.</p>
<p>“You think really loud,” Windblade said.  “Please stop it.  We need to let Charlie get a little recharge.  I’ve got a whole list of things I want to do to her this afternoon.”</p>
<p>“Bring it on,” Charlie said, sleep heavy in her voice.  Neither he nor Windblade said anything else until they felt Charlie slip off into sleep.</p>
<p>“She’s amazing,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“She’s a gift from Primus himself,” Bee said.  “But then, so are you.”</p>
<p>He watched as Windblade ran the back of a digit over Charlie’s hair.</p>
<p>“I don’t think I could take losing either of you,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“You won’t,” Bee said.</p>
<p>“But humans are so short lived,” Windblade said.</p>
<p>“We’ll find a way to keep her,” Bee said.  “The three of us are forever.”  He leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.  “Get some recharge.  You’re not the only one who has plans.”</p>
<p>Windblade laughed, but she closed her optics, and a moment later, he felt her drop into recharge.</p>
<p>He just lay there for a few cycles, turning things over in his brain module as he watched them both recharge.  He’d never in his wildest dreams imagined he would get to have them both, but now that he did, he couldn’t imagine ever letting either one of them go.</p>
<p>He leaned in and kissed them both on the forehead before laying back and closing his optics.  His last thought before he dropped into recharge was just how lucky he was that Charlie had found him in the scrap yard that day.</p>
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